New York, New York
by TheaJ1
Summary: Alice and Rosalie take Bella to New York – there are wedding experiences she shouldn't miss. A quick trip to the bank goes horribly wrong and they soon find themselves caught in the middle of a conspiracy. What is a vampire to do?
1. Bella's Nightmare

**A/N: **This is just an idea I've been carrying around for a while, but as I had no idea where exactly I wanted to got with it, I didn't start writing until yesterday. Alice and Rosalie have whisked Bella away to New York—to try on wedding dresses, among other things, never mind that Bella already has a dress. Things don't go quite the way Alice has planned and when they take a short trip to the bank they find themselves in more trouble than they could have imagined.

It's already half finished. I hope you enjoy reading it; I certainly enjoyed writing it.

**Disclaimer:** The Twilight Saga is property of Stephenie Meyer; I'm only borrowing.

**New York, New York**

**First Chapter…**

**…where Bella Swan finds herself in her personal nightmare**

"Gorgeous!" the sales assistant, a lanky, blond creature with so much make-up that it was hard to see what she really looked like, gushed, clasping her hands in front of her chest.

Bella Swan gave her a sweet smile, but the look she shot over her shoulder at her soon-to-be sister-in-law wasn't quite so sweet. Unfazed, Alice smiled back at her, then turned to the sales assistant to issue yet another set of orders before she shooed Bella back into the dressing room.

"You're impossible," Bella hissed as she struggled to slip out of the wedding dress that was monstrous in every sense of the word, a heap of white satin and lace. Alice gave no answer; she probably wasn't even listening, but then she hadn't been listening to a word of what Bella had said all morning, so she wasn't too surprised. Annoyed, maybe. Yes, definitely annoyed, but there was only so much she could do about it and she'd long since realised that things were easier if she simply went along with what Alice wanted. Bella had sworn herself that this would change as soon as she was married and changed, when Alice was no longer able to throw her over her shoulder and all but drag her on a plane.

Not that she'd—quite—done that, but the iron grip she'd held Bella's arm in had been close enough. Bella had been tempted; the security guards at the airport would certainly have rushed to her aid if she claimed she was being kidnapped, but the warning glare Alice had shot her had kept her from acting on her idea. She wondered briefly if Edward had known what his sister intended. If he had, they'd have words as soon as she got back to Forks. Bella's nerves were strained as it was; the wedding was only a few weeks away and Alice was pestering her with details almost every day now. These days she preferred to be alone. In fact, everyone except Alice gave her as much space as she wanted because everyone—including Carlisle, who had nothing to do with the wedding preparations at all—had found themselves on the receiving end of Bella's temper at one point. She wasn't one to throw a tantrum, but Alice just didn't seem to know—or care; you never knew with her—when to give it a rest. The first time she'd snapped she'd thrown a book at Alice, knowing full well that Alice would probably catch it before it hit her (and regretting that fact just a little). Alice _had_ plucked it out of the air rather neatly; she'd seen it coming of course. Bella had found herself wishing, just for the fraction of a second, that Alice would take it personal, but she hadn't. That evening she'd hissed and snarled at Edward, complaining about his pushy, obtrusive sister, then thrown him out when he failed to be as sympathetic as Bella had thought he should be.

Since then he'd made sure that someone was always there when Alice was with Bella to act as a buffer (that someone never being him—coward), which was why she couldn't even fathom why he'd sent her off to New York with Alice—and Rosalie, of all people.

He'd had to have known they'd be at each other's throats.

New York had been Alice's idea. She'd let Esme present it to Bella though, knowing she'd find the right words to convince Bella to go. _A few days away from everything would be good for you_, she'd said, smiling kindly. Only Bella hadn't gotten away from anything. _Rotten liars, all of them_, she thought uncharacteristically uncharitably.

They'd been in New York for two days now. The weather was rainy, the sky grey and opaque; perfect for a vampire. Bella wished for at least half a day of sun with all her heart; that would give her the chance to get away from Rosalie and Alice for a few hours, but she had no such luck. Alice had planned carefully. The weather forecast promised even more rain, quite unusual for New York in July, and Alice made ruthless use of that.

Today had turned out to be Bella's personal nightmare. Given that she'd found herself in all kinds of nightmarish situations over the past year, this was no small feat to achieve, but Alice wouldn't be Alice if she hadn't. Of course, Alice probably didn't see it that way. She was in Alice-Disneyland as far as Bella could tell, swooning over the dresses the sales assistant had laid out for them like other women swooned over men of the variety 'dark, tall and handsome'.

Bella failed to see the point of trying on wedding dresses. She already had a dress after all. Alice had her forced into it several times already to make alterations. Bella was quite happy with that—not with the being forced into it part, but with the already having a dress part. The thought of going shopping for a wedding dress and spending all day locked up in a store with pink-and-white wallpaper that made you nauseous just by looking at it had filled her with dread.

And yet here she was, trying on one wedding dress after another while Alice and Rosalie looked on, pretending to sip expensive champagne. Alice wisely kept the bottle out of Bella's reach because her mindset was such that she'd have emptied it, given the chance. Bella's tolerance for alcohol was so low it almost didn't exist, but she knew from the one time she'd gotten completely and totally drunk (during those dark times when Edward had been away) that she'd simply fall asleep and stay all but comatose for a few hours. _That_ was a pleasant notion, but Alice must have seen as much because she'd practically yanked the glass out of the sales assistant's hand when she'd offered it to Bella.

"Beast," Bella grumbled quietly.

Alice responded by thrusting yet another dress into Bella's arms, this once with tacky white roses on the skirt which fanned out around Bella like a puddle. She stumbled over it twice on her way to the wood block in the centre of the room. Alice was at her side in a flash—the sales assistant's attention must have been otherwise occupied—to steady her, then lifted her onto the block to keep her from tripping yet again, which was only too likely a possibility. Bella didn't think—much—about her wedding day and the moment she'd descend the Cullen's stairs on her father's arm, but when she did she generally saw herself tumble down rather than walk.

"I'm not sure," Rosalie said, frowning as she put her champagne flute back on the small round table—which, like so many other things in the dressing area, was adorned with a god-awful pink bow—beside her. Bella hated pink, even more so since Alice had begun buying her clothes in that colour because they made her look cute. 'Cute' wasn't exactly how Bella wanted to look these days. She was getting married, for crying out loud, and as her future husband wasn't Ken—who'd want that, anyway?—there was absolutely no need to dress her like Barbie.

Alice begged to differ.

"It's too… white?"

Bella stared at her in disbelief. "Too white?" she demanded, for only one of the eleven dresses she'd tried on so far _hadn't_ been white. Apparently Rosalie and Alice were running out of things to say to the poor sales assistant, who'd been dragging out dress after dress to make Alice happy. She couldn't know that they were only here because Alice firmly believed that trying on wedding dresses was an experience Bella just _mustn't_ miss out on and not because they were actually looking for a dress.

They both ignored her question, walking around Bella like potential buyers around a horse at an auction. Bella gave a small, resigned sigh. _Just one more hour_, she promised herself, _and then Alice will take you to lunch. You'll survive one more hour._

If Bella had known what unfortunate turn their lunch break would take, then maybe she wouldn't have been looking forward to it quite so eagerly. Then again, maybe she would have. As far as she was concerned—and after what she'd been through—there were only very few things worse than shopping for clothes.

xxx

Please tell me what you think! Did you like it? Why?


	2. Alice Is Taken By Surprise

**A/N**: Here's the next chapter. Thanks to KayMarieXW and semper for reviewing! You have no idea how much I appreciate it! Hope you'll enjoy the second chapter as well.

**Disclaimer: **The Twilight Saga is property of Stephenie Meyer. I'm only borrowing.

**Second Chapter…**

**…where Alice is taken by surprise**

Lunch came around eventually and Alice finally allowed Bella to put her own clothes back on. Bella was happy to do so; most of the dresses she'd been subjected to try on this morning had been far heavier than they looked, and although it had been raining non-stop since last night the temperatures had barely dropped below eighty.

Once outside, Bella, Alice and Rosalie ducked quickly under the umbrellas they'd brought—Bella because she didn't care much for looking like a drowned cat, Alice and Rosalie because it was what humans did in this kind of weather. They waded through a host of umbrellas of all shapes and sizes, Alice prattling away, asking Bella where she would like to eat without giving her a chance to respond.

"Oh, for the love of God," Alice exclaimed suddenly, with a rather dark look. She stopped in the middle of the street, causing people to yell at her as they were forced to stop as well to avoid crashing into her, and began rummaging in her purse, thrusting her belongings into Bella and Rosalie's hands. "I can't believe I forgot," she said to herself, still digging around. Finally she straightened up, looking rather displeased. "I left the envelope at the hotel."

Rosalie rolled her eyes. "You have your credit cards, don't you? What do you need cash for?"

Alice muttered something that Bella couldn't catch, but Rosalie rolled her eyes yet again. However, when Alice set off towards the bank just down the street, Rosalie followed and so did Bella, although she'd have much preferred to go have something to eat. Her stomach was growling. Alice had rushed them so much in the morning that she'd barely had time for breakfast. Even after all this time Alice tended to forget that Bella had human needs once in a while.

The three of them stepped into the bank, folding up their umbrellas which dripped steadily onto the white marble floor. The security man at the entrance smiled broadly at them all, although Bella suspected it was probably intended more for Rosalie and Alice than for her. They got in line, Alice frowning a little as they slowly shuffled towards the counter. The lady in front of them was leaning heavily on her walker, moving with the speed of a snail. Alice was looking in the distance while they waited, her eyes rather vacant the way they always were when she was having a vision. Then she gasped, spun around and began shoving Bella and Rosalie towards the exit, the horrified expression on her face more than just a little disconcerting—Bella had never seen her look that way—but before she could ask what was going on, a gun shot shattered the relative silence, which sort of answered Bella's question.

Oh, could her day get any worse?

Alice pushed Bella to the floor, half throwing herself over her. Rosalie followed suit. Alice sniffed, glanced at Rosalie, who slightly shook her head, then relaxed a little. Bella didn't see much, buried under Alice as she was, but as neither Alice nor Rosalie seemed overly alarmed, she assumed nobody had been hit. That was just what they'd need, someone bleeding.

It said a lot about the kinds of situations Bella had been in recently that she wasn't frightened by the prospect of a bank robbery—which she assumed was what this was—but then it was kind of difficult to be afraid of a human, even if he had a gun, when one had faced vampires. Besides, Alice and Rosalie were right next to her and they wouldn't let anything happen to her. Edward would kill them if they did.

But could they protect her? The spark of doubt had lodged itself inside her mind before she knew it. There were so many witnesses in this bank. Alice and Rosalie couldn't even throw themselves in front of Bella should she happen to end up in the robber's—was there more than one?—line of fire. His bullets would ricochet, which wasn't exactly inconspicuous. Fear slithered down Bella's spine.

Alice sighed into Bella's ear, exasperated, as her increased heartbeat registered with her, but as Bella couldn't see her face she had no way of knowing if Alice was really so confident as she wanted to lead Bella to believe.

The other customers had flattened themselves against the wet marble floor as well the second the shot rang out. From the corner of her eye Bella saw heavy black boots stride past her, heading towards the counter. Her own heartbeat drowned out every word the robber said to the bank assistant, who must have been out of his mind with fear. Bella could certainly relate.

"We're going to be fine," Alice mouthed softly into Bella's ear, but Bella had a hard time believing her, for Alice hadn't seen the robbery until it was too late. Why this was, Bella had no notion. Maybe because it had been a snap decision, she ones she often made to evade Alice. Then again, she didn't care as long as she got out of this mess alive.

"This is your fault, you know," Bella breathed back, knowing that Alice would hear her, but the robber wouldn't.

"Please, you've been in worse situations," Alice huffed.

She had a point, Bella knew, but had she even thought about the possibility of Bella getting shot at? She should have, given that Bella attracted all kinds of dangers the way light attracted moths.

In the end the person getting shot wasn't Bella, but as the result was still pretty much the same as far as Alice and Rosalie were concerned, it didn't really matter. The second shot was followed by a muffled cry, then a thud and dead silence.

Bella didn't dare look up, but if she had, she would have seen that Alice and Rosalie's faces were identical masks of unconcealed horror.


	3. Things Can Always Get Worse

**A/N:** I hope you enjoyed the last chapter! Thanks to all who added New York, New York to their favourites lists or alerted to it!

**Disclaimer: **The Twilight Saga is property of Stephenie Meyer. I'm only borrowing.

**Third Chapter…**

**…where Bella learns that things can always get worse**

Bella didn't see what happened, but if she had, she would have know that the robber had shot the bank assistant because he'd been unable to give him the desired access to the vault; only the director could and he wasn't in today. The bullet hit the man square in the face. He slumped onto the ground, the upper have of his head gone. The robber was unperturbed; he wiped the few splatters of blood that had landed on him away casually before he muttered a few words apparently to nobody. A second later the doors to the bank flew open anew, more men in black streaming in; they had waited just inside the bank.

For the customers—or hostages, depending on how you looked at it—the situation took a turn for the worse.

Alice ground her teeth together; it was obvious she was trying very hard to hold on to both her temper and her sanity, with the scent of blood thick in the air. Bella could tell she wasn't breathing; she'd even ceased to move her shoulders. Rosalie had decided to do the same. For Bella, who still lay half-buried underneath them, it felt like they'd turned into immobile statues, which for all intents and purposed they had. Bella was surprised to find that her fear had been thoroughly wiped away by anxiety, not for herself but for the two women who'd become her family in a few weeks' time. She knew they could exercise control, but she also knew that they tried to get out of situations as these as quickly as possible because it was always better to be safe than sorry. What would happen if they could no longer hang on to what control they had hardly bore thinking on. One thing, however, Bella was painfully sure of. If Alice and Rosalie did lose control, nobody would make it out of this bank alive, except—hopefully—for Bella. They couldn't leave witnesses that were likely to relate what they'd seen, and Bella couldn't come up with a single scenario where the other hostages wouldn't at least see _something_ that wasn't quite human.

Why hadn't Alice seen this would happen?

Well, she had, but it had been too late to do anything about it. Maybe it had been a snap decision, the kind Bella herself often made to evade Alice's visions. That was unlikely though, given how well prepared an operation this seemed to be. As they were hauled up and tied together in groups of three and four, Bella got her first good look at the men who were robbing the bank. They all wore black, with ski masks pulled over their faces. The weapons they carried seemed awfully big to Bella, who'd learned what little she knew about weapons from watching a handful movies; it wasn't the kind of film she generally enjoyed.

They didn't speak as they tied their hostages together and when they did they only whispered. Bella craned her neck as inconspicuously as she could to look into Rosalie's face—Alice sat directly behind her; Bella felt her cold hands against her wrists—to see if it gave anything away, for she understood perfectly what the men were saying, but Rosalie's features were as smooth and perfect as ever. Catching Bella looking at her, she curved her lips into a small smile, but a very strained one. The A/C system had been turned off only seconds after the man had been shot and the smell of blood was dissipating even more slowly. Even Bella got a whiff of the metallic scent when she turned her head a little to the left; she sat awfully close to the counter behind which the dead bank assistant lay sprawled on the floor. She breathed through her mouth—the last thing she wanted was to throw up—and that helped, if only a little.

Nobody dared even whisper. Rosalie and Alice were talking quietly, too low for even Bella to hear although she was sitting directly beside them, and she knew that if she couldn't hear them, then neither could the robbers—or any human being for that matter. Bella hoped they were trying to figure out a way to get the three of them safely out of here, but even more she hoped that their intervention wouldn't be necessary.

The next hour passed quietly. At some point a phone started ringing, but none of the men bothered picking it up. That wasn't how it always was in the movies, Bella thought, but then what did she know? They were being watched by only four of the robbers—she'd counted sixteen in total, which struck her as a rather high number—all of them heavily harmed; the rest had disappeared into the offices in the back of the bank.

"What are they doing?" Bella breathed eventually. She couldn't stand the suspense any longer and Rosalie and Alice probably knew what was going on. Nobody looked in her direction, so she assumed nobody had heard her.

Rosalie tilted her head backwards as if to stretch her muscles, drew the tiniest of breaths and whispered, "They can't get into the vault underneath the bank. They're currently rigging it with explosives."

_Wonderful_, Bella thought glumly. Now they had to worry about being blown up as well as being shot. She hoped that the media were slow to respond to the sensation this robbery was likely to cause because the last thing she needed was Edward going mad with worry when he saw it on TV. There wasn't anything he'd be able to do about it, but that wouldn't stop him from trying. When had it ever?

"Are you alright?" she asked, as quietly as before.

"For now," Rosalie whispered back. "No more talking. Air."

Bella felt Alice give an affirmative nod.

Oh, this was going to be a long day. And to think she'd been looking forward to her lunch break! This was a classic case of 'be careful what you wish for' where you wished for one thing and in a way got what you wanted, just not like you'd expected, Bella reflected, with something like wry amusement.

The earth underneath the bank started shaking.


	4. Edward Feels Cheated

**A/N: **And here it is. Thank you for reviewing or alerting to me/adding this story to their favourites; the latter is almost as good as a review! Still, if you enjoy the story, please take the time to review if you can! I'd love to hear what you think.

**Disclaimer: **The Twilight Saga is property of Stephenie Meyer. I'm only borrowing.

**Fourth Chapter…**

**…where Edward feels cheated**

The day had been as pleasant as it could be without Bella.

Edward hadn't been sure about the trip to New York. He'd guessed what Alice had in mind—he knew her too well after all—but to be honest, he needed a few days for himself. He'd never have admitted that to Bella, because then she'd have asked him why and he wouldn't have known how to answer that. He didn't want to lie to her, but the very idea of telling her he was planning on having the 'talk' with Carlisle was preposterous! Men did not talk about that kind of thing with women.

_That_, Edward told himself, _isn't true. Not anymore, anyway._ But because change didn't come easily to vampires, Edward found it hard to get used to the idea. More to the point, he didn't want to get used to the idea.

_Sometimes I miss how things were when I was human_.

He'd do it once Carlisle came home from work later. He'd spent quite some time thinking about how to approach the subject. Surely Carlisle would think him insane—which, of course, was exactly what this was. Edward kept hoping that Bella would change her mind about 'it' (that's what he called it because he couldn't bring himself to even think the word 'honeymoon', let alone the logical follow-up 'sex'), but if he was honest that was like hoping Earth would stop spinning.

"You're making me edgy," Jasper said, suddenly appearing behind Edward, ready to grab him. Edward ducked neatly out of the way; he'd seen him coming.

"I'm not in the mood for wrestling!" he snapped, flopping down on the sofa and crossing his arms in front of his chest. "Leave me alone."

Jasper sighed, but didn't press the subject; he knew when to give it a rest. Instead, he positioned himself beside the TV screen Edward was pretending to stare at, a thoughtful look on his face. Edward knew his emotional state had been bothering Jasper all day, but he certainly wasn't about to tell him what had caused his alternating between fear, desperation, anger and apprehension. Jasper would think he'd lost his mind. Edward was only too aware that he'd be right to accuse him of that, but he really didn't want to hear him say it.

"Are you regretting sending her off to New York with Alice and Rose?" Jasper asked eventually, thinking that this was the source of Edward's strange mood.

"No," Edward replied crossly. Emmett was playing a video game and Edward focused on that, watching him kill of dozens of mutilated zombies and ignoring Jasper, who eventually shrugged and gave up. If Edward didn't want to talk, there was no way to make him; he'd learned that a long time ago.

"He's got a point, though," Emmett said eventually, throwing the controller aside after another successful kill. "I'm not sure New York was the best idea Alice has ever had."

Jasper gave a low growl; he didn't like anyone insulting his wife. Privately, Edward knew, he thought Emmett was right. Bella and Rosalie had never been very close, although Rosalie seemed to be getting over the problems she had with Bella, and Alice was doing her best to alienate Bella. It didn't matter that this was temporary; what mattered what that Alice was practically begging for Bella to scratch her eyes out. Although, Edward thought wryly, knowing his sister, Alice probably didn't see it that way. She never did with these things. Edward just hoped he'd get Bella back in one piece in three days—and that he'd manage to get up the nerve to talk to Carlisle before then. He'd already tried yesterday, but when Carlisle had come home Edward, coward that he was, had changed his mind.

Glancing at the display of the DVD recorder, Edward found that Carlisle would be home in half an hour, so he'd better come up with something quickly. 'Bella wants me to kill her' wasn't the way to go, although that was exactly what he thought she was asking of him (of course, when he turned her, he'd be killing her too, but he wouldn't be crushing her to death, small comfort that this was). Didn't she understand how dangerous it could be when he lost control? Not that Edward had much experience in the matter, but he'd heard Emmett and Jasper—and even Carlisle even though he often wished he didn't; he'd once walked in on his parents having sex, but the memory was mercifully dim and, Edward thought rather hopefully, gone in a few more years—often enough to know that control was one of the very first things to go.

Esme's cell phone started ringing, with the tone Alice had set for Carlisle—_O Fortuna_, the first piece of the Carmina Burana by Carl Orff and not at all fitting for Carlisle (too aggressive, Edward thought, but Esme hadn't bothered to change it again, firstly because she didn't care and secondly because Alice would have changed it right back)—blaring through the living room. Edward made a face; the quality of the cell phone's loudspeaker was very poor and the way they mangled the tune was almost like a personal insult to someone with even the least bit of musical knowledge, not to mention an attack on a vampire's keen sense of hearing.

Esme, having darted down the stairs, scooped it up with a scowl and pressed the acceptance button, cutting off the awful noise. "Sorry," she mouthed before focusing her attention on Carlisle. "Has anything happened?" she asked, her voice tinged with worry. Carlisle rarely called her from work.

"Turn on the TV, CNN." Carlisle sounded agitated. Edward had long since decided that he found it quite annoying that mind reading didn't work over the phone, especially in moments like this.

Emmett picked up the remote to change channels, finally making the corpses of the zombies that had littered the screen vanish. Why he didn't use his free time to do something more useful—or adult—was beyond Edward.

"What's the matter?" Esme asked, even more worried now, clutching the cell phone until it cracked alarmingly.

Carlisle didn't answer because Emmett found the right channel just then. The four of them looked at the slim, well-groomed dark-haired woman who was standing in front of what appeared to be a bank, with a microphone in her hand and an appropriately worried expression on her face.

"Two hours ago sixteen armed men in black clothes stormed the Chase Manhattan Bank. So far two shots have been fired. All attempts to make contact have been unsuccessful. S.W.A.T. teams are in place around the bank, but because of the high number of hostages they hesitate to act. The police are clueless as to how many people have been inside the bank when the robbery began, but with help of the footage of the security cameras in front of the bank they have established that there are probably thirty or more hostages. This was filmed by the security cameras outside the bank just before the robbery."

The screen changed as the live feed was replaced with grainy pictures.

"Wait for it," Carlisle said, his voice flat.

They watched as people darted in and out of the bank, the film sped up. Suddenly Emmett froze the picture on the TV screen, pointing at three women just about to enter the bank, barely recognisable because of the low solution. Edward didn't immediately understand what they were looking at, then Esme gasped, and Edward's thoughts caught up with those of his family. A sick feeling spread in the pit of his stomach as he stared at the three grainy figures.

This couldn't be happening. This could _not_ be happening.

Edward barely felt Esme's hand on his shoulder. What did he have to do to keep her safe? He'd just saved her from Victoria and now she'd got caught up in a bank robbery. That wasn't far. That just wasn't fair, and Edward wanted to scream at the TV screen in frustration. He felt cheated. He'd been trying so hard to keep her safe, but it never seemed to be enough. _Life is rarely fair_, a voice whispered in the back of his mind. Edward told it to shut up and forced himself to think.

Two hours later he, Jasper and Emmett boarded a plane to New York. What they hoped to accomplish there none of them knew. But they had to try.

Talking to Carlisle about sex suddenly seemed much less threatening.


	5. Knights In Shining Armour & Maidens

**A/N: **Here's the next chapter—I don't want to keep you waiting. I was asked why I didn't try finish "Lifelines" before I focused on something new. Truth is that right now I know where I want to go with "Lifelines" and I have the next chapters roughly outlined in my head, but whenever I sit down to write, it won't come out the way I want it to. If I posted the next chapter the way it's now, I would be unhappy about it forever because I'd be convinced it could have been better. So that's why I'm writing this instead of "Lifelines". I **will** finish "Lifelines" before the end of the year because after that I'll really busy with my thesis and I've worked on the story for so long that now I want it to end. I can't make any promises as to when the next chapter will be up, but I'll **try** to get it done within the next two weeks. "New York, New York" is practically finished anyway.

Hope you enjoy the chapter! Please review if you did! I'd love to hear what you think about it!

Thank you, **KayMarieXW**, for beta-ing! You've done a great job, as always!

**Disclaimer:** The Twilight Saga is property of Stephenie Meyer. I'm only borrowing.

**Fifth Chapter…**

**…where three knights in shining armour race to their maidens' rescue**

"What now?" Emmett asked, with an air of condescension—nobody had _forced_ him to come, for God's sake!—that annoyed Edward to no end. Ignoring him, which was the best thing to do, really, Edward crept closer to the edge of the building. It was too far away from the bank for him to actually see much, but even with the dark to give them cover they hadn't dared come any closer, not with the area around the bank ablaze with floodlights and helicopters circling overhead.

_The helicopters could be a problem._

Edward absently registered Jasper's thought as he peered into the darkness, counting quietly. He couldn't see the men on the far side of the building, but if he was too far away to get a good look on the scene, he was near enough to get a read on the minds of every single person involved, _including_ the robbers. He didn't much like what he was hearing, but there was nothing to be done about that now. Truth be told, there was very little he could do anything about. He'd been aware of that from the start, but it was still a frustrating thought.

That Emmett believed their coming to New York was a waste of time didn't help. _He_ didn't have to worry about his wife being accidentally—or deliberately—killed. Edward had and he'd had to worry about losing Bella far too many times lately. He was thoroughly sick of it. The part of him that was constantly afraid of something happening to her would be beyond glad when Bella was finally a vampire. Trying to keep Bella safe was like trying to collect water with a sieve. Not pointless—_never_ pointless (the keeping Bella safe part anyway; he'd never tried the sieve part; he wasn't _that_ bored)—but very, very tiresome.

"We make a plan, of course," Jasper replied to Emmett's question, sensing that Edward was disinclined to answer. In the back of his mind Edward felt Jasper's glee at the opportunity to make use of his military skills. In fact, he was already beginning to think like the major he once was. _The major he never ceased to be_, Edward corrected himself, finishing his count.

"Sixteen robbers, like they said, eight snipers positioned on roofs more or less next to the bank—though of what use they'll be I have no notion—thirty-two policemen or S.W.A.T. team members around the bank, and their commanding officer and his team of four are in the van parked across the bank. I think we can ignore the media or the EMTs since we're not going to just _walk_ inside."

That just wasn't an option with so many eyes trained on the front entrance. The bank's other exists were secured as well, but knocking out two or three policemen shouldn't be much of a problem and not attract much attention if they acted fast enough.

_You're getting ahead of yourself_, Edward told himself firmly. It wasn't as if they already had a plan. Jasper had wanted appraise the situations before he started planning and that's why they were here.

"You get anything off Rose and Alice?" Emmett asked as he parked himself beside Edward, peering into the darkness as well, although he could only see what wasn't hidden from sight by other building. 'Concrete jungle' was a very apt description for New York.

"Alice is very irritated because she didn't see the robbery until it was too late," Edward told him. "I'm beginning to get a fairly good idea why that was, but I'll explain later. They know we're here and she assured me that they'd make sure nothing happens to Bella, though they'd prefer it if we could get her out of there somehow because Alice has had some vague visions of the robbers starting to shoot people if—although Alice fears it's going to become a 'when' rather soon—they don't get what they want."

"That's our primary mission objective, then," Jasper put in, his mind racing.

Edward didn't pay close attention; Jasper would explain once his plan was fully formed. "Rosalie is annoyed. A man's been shot and you know how she hates being deprived of her sense of smell."

"Getting _them_ out should be our secondary objective if that's the case," Jasper replied with a grimace. "No point in risking more deaths than necessary—or exposure." Jasper found the latter far more dangerous than the former and Edward, though he'd never breathe a word of it to Carlisle, had to agree. He'd sacrifice the human hostages—aside from Bella, of course—in a flash if it meant protecting their secret. He didn't want his family get killed because of human greed and idiocy.

"What do the humans plan to do?" he asked next.

"Nothing for now. They're still trying to make contact."

They hadn't flown all the way to New York. That would have taken far too long. Instead, they'd picked a flight with layover in Chicago and run the rest of the way. The journey had still taken them four hours from the minute they'd left their house, so Edward was a bit surprised that the police were so patient. Then again, with thirty-five lives at stake they had to proceed carefully. Edward was grateful because judging by what he'd gotten from the robbers, they wouldn't hesitate to kill anyone inside the bank—they had another way out, after all.

This was going to be complicated.

"Keep an eye on the situation and call if anything happens," Jasper said eventually. "Emmett and I are going to get what we need. Be good and don't do anything rash," he added, frowning down at Edward. "That's only going to get her killed."

Indignant, Edward wanted to reply that he'd rather set himself on fire than do anything to jeopardise Bella, but Emmett and Jasper had already left the same way they'd come.


	6. Mortal Peril

**A/N: **Thank you so much for the reviewing! Hope you'll like the next chapter as well. Again thanks to KayMarieXW for beta-ing!

**Disclaimer: **The Twilight Saga is property of Stephenie Meyer. I'm only borrowing.

**Sixth Chapter…**

**…where 'mortal peril' seems to become Bella's constant companion**

Bella was bored.

She knew she shouldn't have been—everyone else was quivering with fear, except for the old lady, who was probably unconscious (Rosalie kept darting glances in her direction, muttering something about cardiac arrhythmia; at least Bella thought that was what she was saying because Rosalie's voice was almost too low for human ears)—but being scared was sort of difficult with Alice and Rosalie right next to her. Bella kept reminding herself that they might not be able to help her if push came to shove, but they'd saved her from so many seemingly hopeless situations already, that the argument didn't have much weight, even in Bella's mind. _That_ was beyond stupid, she knew that, but it was the way she felt and trying to change that would only make her anxious again, so she didn't.

Nothing had happened ever since Alice had announced very, very quietly that Edward, Emmett and Jasper were in town. That had been hours ago, when it had still been dark. Well, it hadn't been _dark_ dark because what little she could see behind the high, narrow windows had been brightly lit by artificial lights. But the light had changed now, was more natural, so she assumed it was past dawn. Rain was drumming steadily on the room, making Bella sleepy. She'd tried to nap, but that had proved difficult with her arms tied behind her back. Her feet had fallen asleep. She hadn't dared stretch them and now they were prickling uncomfortably. She envied Rosalie and Alice, who didn't have a blood flow anymore.

Alice hadn't elaborated on why the guys had come, but Bella had a pretty good idea. Part of her was annoyed that Edward was here—what did he think he'd be able to accomplish? He should let the police do their job!—but another part was grateful and touched and almost giddy with happiness. _Maybe_, Bella thought sourly, _I'm getting used to being a damsel in distress. I can't _wait_ for that to end!_

The phone still rang every fifteen minutes. It was beginning to annoy her. Why couldn't they just pick up and be done with it? It had rung for nearly ten minutes straight after the robbers had blown their way into the vault. Bella didn't know what they wanted, but she hoped they'd get it soon because she wanted out of here. She was so hungry she could have eaten a horse, the coppery smell of the blood was making her queasy (apparently Rosalie and Alice had gotten used to it because they were breathing again; Bella assumed it didn't smell so good after a while—she'd ask Edward once she was home again) and she needed to use the bathroom. As another woman had been struck down upon that particular request with the butt of the rifle one of the robbers on guard duty was carrying, Bella didn't intend to ask. Also because Alice had asked her _not_ to attract any attention.

Finally something happened. One of the men in black—there was really no way for Bella to distinguish them; when they spoke they only whispered (she supposed they smelled different to Alice and Rosalie, though)—picked up the phone, pressing it against his ear and barking, "What?" in a voice that was used to giving orders. "Save your psychological crap for someone else," he continued. "We want a vehicle—black, nondescript—and a police escort for the airport. Oh, yes, and a private jet. If we don't get what we want, we'll start killing hostages." He slammed the receiver down and disappeared in the office area again without another word.

"That was weird," Bella muttered, earning her a glare from one of the robbers and Rosalie's elbow in her ribs. "Sorry," she breathed. Rosalie shrugged.

Alice turned her head around as unobtrusively as possible and began whispering rapidly into Bella's ear. "You're right. It _was_ weird. I got the impression they don't really want what they asked for, although they'll take it if they get it. Which I don't think they will. I _am_ positive they'll start killing hostages—that part was clear—but aside from that the future's all muddy. I hate it when that happens. They haven't been talking much, so we don't really know what they want. Edward does, I guess, but they are still trying to figure out how to get you out of here unharmed. It's beyond frustrating, really. If I ever try to make you do something you don't want to do, remind me of what happened this time," she added grudgingly, as an afterthought before she slumped down against Bella's back again.

"I'll keep that in mind." Bella mouthed, although she doubted this episode would really keep Alice from doing what she wanted. Hell would freeze over before that happened.

The phone started ringing again. Nobody bothered to pick it up. The other hostages were huddled together, clearly frightened at the prospect of being shot. Bella wasn't so happy either, but she hoped it wouldn't come to that. Positive thinking wasn't her strong suit when it came right down to it, but as she hadn't anything else to do right now, she might as well give it a try.

Bella must have dozed off eventually because she came awake with a start, heart pounding. It took her a moment to figure out what had happened; Rosalie had jabbed her in the ribs again to get her attention.

"We know what's going on," she whispered, the words spilling out of her mouth so quickly that Bella, her mind still sluggish with sleep, had difficulty following. "This isn't a bank robbery at all. Well, it is, but it's also a diversion. As far as Alice can tell another group intends to break in somewhere else entirely, hoping the police will be slow to respond—which, according to Alice, they will be. They haven't begun their second operation yet–"

"Two more hours," Alice hissed from behind Bella. "And Jasper, Edward and Emmett are _still_ discussing. They're too far away for Edward to read my mind. They had to relocate when the sun came up."

"They'll continue to ask for things that'll take time to arrange and to make them dispatch even more police officers until they are stretched thin. I don't see how it can work because New York is a big city, but they seem to believe it will. There are too many variables, so Alice doesn't know yet how it'll turn out. Not that it would change anything if she did."

"Thank you," Alice muttered darkly, "so much."

"Well, it's true, isn't it?" Rosalie snapped, loud enough for Bella to hear. The robber closest to them glanced in their direction, but didn't come to investigate.

"What I meant to say before I was so rudely interrupted," Rosalie continued, the words now blurring together because she didn't want to risk drawing attention to herself again, "is that they _will_ start killing because otherwise they can't keep the police at bay. And _that_ is not good."

_No_, Bella thought with a tiny, almost resigned sigh—mortal peril was nothing new to her after all—_that is definitely not good_.

The question was what Edward, Jasper and Emmett intended to do about it. Edward tended to act first and think later where she was concerned; he'd amply proven that. Hopefully the guys would keep Edward from doing something stupid.


	7. Edward Loses His Head

**A/N: **Writing this particular chapter was a lot of fun! I hope reading will be too! Thanks to all who reviewed or alerted to me. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **The Twilight Saga is property of Stephenie Meyer. I'm only borrowing.

**Seventh Chapter…**

**…where Edward loses his head**

Edward was slowly going insane.

They'd had to relocate when the sun came up because they'd have been plainly visible for the helicopter still circling over the bank and the shabby hotel they'd found was too far away to follow the situation from inside Alice's mind. Edward didn't know what was happening and that they weren't getting anywhere with their planning wasn't helping either.

Jasper had been staring for the blueprints of the bank, the surrounding buildings, the subway and sewer system for the better part of an hour and while his mind was going over possibilities with something close to the speed of light, he hadn't come up with something viable yet. Getting the blueprints hadn't been particularly difficult—there were very few databases, no matter how secure, that Edward couldn't hack into. No, scratch that. There was _no_ database Edward couldn't crack. It had been done within a matter of minutes and then they'd printed everything out, spreading sheets and sheets of paper generously over the carpet (Edward had detected a relatively large blood stain underneath the bed, but it was old and he wasn't in the mood to contemplate where it had come from).

"Would you care to fill us in on how it's going?" Emmett asked from his perch on the narrow bed that Edward wouldn't have sat down on if his life depended on it, it reeked so badly. Without Edward's ability to read minds Emmett had no clue what was going on in Jasper's head and he was getting impatient. He itched to do _something_.

"Not very well," Jasper said crossly, glancing up to shoot a glare in Emmett's general direction for breaking his concentration. "In any case we'll have to wait until it's dark. That's not good, given the robbers' threat, but we can't just stroll around in a secure area in broad daylight. There's an old subway tunnel underneath the bank that we could use, but the robbers have probably access to the same plans, so they'll be down there. Then again, maybe they won't. Are you sure the robbery is just a ruse?"

Edward glared at him and Jasper raised his hand in an apologetic gesture.

"But you don't know what they really want to hit, right?"

"No, I don't," Edward snapped, "because they didn't really think about that. I'm sure they'd have been more obliging, had they known I was listening. Maybe I should just ask them."

Emmett snorted, amused. Edward didn't even bother to respond to that because he knew it wouldn't do any good.

Jasper bestowed a look upon them both that Edward was sure had made battalions of recruits cringe. Edward, however, wasn't very impressed and neither was Emmett. "No need to get pert," Jasper said, returning his attention to the blueprints. Bright red dots marked the spots where policemen had been positioned.

"We can't wait until tonight," Edward said after a moment, trying very hard to keep his voice level—not that he'd ever fool Jasper, what with his temper flaring—and managing just barely. "If they shoot Bella…"

"Rose and Alice are there to keep that from happening," Jasper finished for him. "Yes, yes, I know they'd have to be careful because of all the witnesses. You've only told me thirty-eight times. And what makes you think they'll go straight for Bella?"

"Her general bad luck?" Emmett supplied unhelpfully.

Neither Jasper nor Edward bothered to respond. Emmett was having far too much fun. _Easy_, Edward thought sourly_, if someone tries to shoot Rose, he'll be in for a nasty surprise._

"What he said," Edward replied because although Emmett didn't display the seriousness the situation warranted he wasn't exactly wrong. Edward had thought the same.

Jasper sighed, muttering something under his breath that Edward chose to ignore.

"I'm going for a walk. Call me when you've figured something out."

He strode outside before his brothers could object. The narrow hallway was as disgusting as the room, an insult for his olfactory sense, and he held his breath all the way down to the lobby—or what passed as a lobby anyway. Two shabby armchairs sat in one corner, a small three-legged table in front of them. The reception was unstaffed; the receptionist was in one of the rooms in the back, watching TV.

Edward didn't exactly have a plan, but he knew that he had to do something. He couldn't let them kill Bella! If they did, he'd lose his mind.

Slowly, using back alleys and rooftops (as long as he was still far enough away from the bank, anyway; the helicopter was still flying annoying circles) he made his way towards the bank, ignoring the rain pounding down on him. He was drenched within seconds. He knew that there was only a single man guarding the back entrance of the bank, aside from the sniper on a roof nearby. Now, if he could just get inside… Maybe if he knocked out the sniper or made sure he was distracted, then get rid of the policeman…

_Have you completely lost your mind now? _Alice suddenly screeched inside his head. She'd come into range again without him noticing and so had everyone else, except for the silent spot that was Bella. _It's not going to work, dolt!_

Edward didn't reply; Alice couldn't hear him anyway.

_Edward…_ Alice mental voice trailed off warningly. Instead, she showered him with pictures of what she'd seen would happen if he acted on his half-formed ideas. That made Edward pause. He'd be a fool not to trust Alice's visions.

_It would be a good idea if one of you could get manage to get inside the bank_, Alice thought, _because the killing's about to start. Now, they're going to shoot the old lady—_an image of a little old lady, her shoulders hunched and her eyes closed, accompanied the thought—_because she's about to die anyway. Heart attack. She wouldn't survive anyway._ A mental grimace. _That strikes me as uncharacteristically considerate for a bunch of bank robbers, but you don't look a gift horse in the mouth. After that it's still muddy. Did you figure out what they really want to break into?_

No, Edward hadn't. He was listening to the voices in his mind, but they were focused on the matter at hand, namely… Edward was surprised to learn that they were planning their escape, using the abandoned subway tunnel Jasper had mentioned. If he remembered correctly, it ran just below the vault, which explained why they'd had to get inside. They weren't quite through yet; they had to shovel aside more debris than they'd thought they would have.

He wished he could ask Alice what they planned because she probably knew, but there was no way to reach her. Maybe he could get inside that way, once the opening was large enough… He could help with yet from below… Nobody would have to know…

_Edward._ Alice sounded exasperated. _Just go back to Emmett and Jasper, please. You're not thinking straight. Besides, they let down a camera in the tunnel. And unfortunately we do show up on film._

Edward grimaced. Apparently they'd thought of everything. The back entrance it was, then.

_NO!_ Alice yelled, once again sending a flood of images into Edward's mind.

Ignoring her, Edward set off towards the bank, stopping just behind the crowd of gawkers they police had been unable to disperse. He stood out; he was the only one not carrying an umbrella, but nobody paid any attention to him. What was going on in front of the crows, behind the yellow police tape, was much, much more interesting.

He spotted the sniper in question with ease, zeroing in onto his thoughts. He was tired and wet and hungry and wanted to go home because technically he was on vacation. Edward did feel a little bit sorry about having to knock him out, but Bella's life was far more important. A headache you recovered from. Death was frustratingly permanent.

_Edward, he's going to be relieved in half an hour. Wait at least that long, otherwise they'll know something is wrong. Oh, no, don't wait. Go! Right now!_

Edward didn't know what exactly Alice had seen because the future was still in flux (and Edward didn't have time sorting through images), so he turned and disappeared in one of the narrow alleys on the right side of the street, taking care to move fast enough so that the snipers, on their high perches, wouldn't accidentally see him and raise an alarm. He had to circle around the entire block, Alice's mind slipping away from him for a moment as he did, and when she was in range again, she filled him in on what she'd seen.

_If you're careful, and I'm stressing the 'if' here, then you can get past him because his relief will show up early and distract him for a second or two, which should be enough time, for you to somehow dispose of the police guard. Still, I'd rather you went back to the hotel. _She was pleading now.

When his future didn't waver she must have told Rosalie what he intended to do because she said, _How stupid are you?_ He had so much practice ignoring Rosalie that he barely heard her. Rosalie seemed to guess as much because she turned the volume of her mental voice up a notch. _Do you WANT to get her killed? _she demanded. _Just stay where you are and leave everything to us. We won't let anything happen to her, I promise._

Edward had almost reached the back entrance. He was cowering in the shadows, waiting for the moment. There. Another darkly-clad figure had just appeared on the roof. The sniper turned his head, focusing on the woman who was about to relieve him. Edward slipped out of his hiding place, dashing towards the single policeman, a man about the size and built of Emmett. Alice's warning came just as Edward knocked him over the head, not very hard; he didn't want to kill him. Edward felt the mind fade away as the man slid into unconsciousness, toppling ungracefully into Edward's waiting arms. Alice was babbling in his mind; he knew the snipers on the roof were about to look his way and he was still plainly visible, he hadn't thought of where to hide the man…

A surge of panic swept through him. He didn't even have a full second anymore to decide what to do. He could just drag the man away, but he'd never get inside before the snipers saw that the policeman wasn't where he was supposed to be and they'd know immediately that something was wrong. Edward had no way of knowing what the robbers would do if something went wrong outside, if they suspected foul play. Time was running out.

Suddenly Emmett appeared by his side. He only knew it was Emmett because his scent suddenly wafted down the narrow alley. He wore black, just as the policeman, though not exactly the same uniform, but that didn't matter because Jasper was on the roof this second, dousing the snipers in so much sleepiness they momentarily lost focus. Edward all but tore the policeman's clothing off; Emmett shot out of his own clothes and slipped into the uniform that fit well enough. Emmett plastered his blank hair against his head until it was flat and resembled the haircut of the unconscious policemen. From the distance nobody would notice that he policeman standing guard wasn't a policeman at all.

After Alice had assured him that the real policeman wouldn't wake up for another four hours, Edward hid him in an empty apartment in one of the adjoining buildings that Alice had pointed out to him. Jasper joined him when he was done and he was more furious that Edward had ever seen him.

_You IDIOT!_ Jasper berated him silently as he dropped the backpack with the laptop and all the plans. _If we hadn't followed you, you could have screwed up this whole operation! What were you thinking? No, don't answer that. You WEREN'T thinking!_

"But," Edward began defensively and Jasper all but knocked him flat with a surge of rage. Edward suddenly found himself on his back, staring stupidly into Jasper's blazing eyes. He'd never used his gift that way and Edward hadn't even known Jasper could do that.

"Shut up and try not to do something stupid while I try to come up with a plan," Jasper ordered in a voice that told Edward that it would be very wise to keep his mouth shut. He suddenly felt very apprehensive as to what else Jasper could do with his gift.


	8. Bella's Clumsiness Knows No Limits

**A/N:** Hey! Thanks for reviewing and alerting to me! I really appreciate it. Here's the next chapter. I hope you'll like it. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **The Twilight Saga is property of Stephenie Meyer. I'm only borrowing.

**Eighth Chapter…**

**…where Bella's clumsiness knows no limits**

Alice was fuming. She knew Edward's tendency to do things that were beyond stupid where Bella was concerned—because he stopped thinking altogether then!—but he'd outdone himself. If Jasper and Emmett hadn't shown up in time… Well, Alice didn't know what would have happened because they _had_ shown up and all the other possibilities were now lost for her, but it definitely wouldn't have been good.

She'd related what had happened outside to Rosalie and Rosalie had given Edward a piece of her own mind. They hadn't filled in Bella because there was no need to worry her. She'd finally fallen asleep, judging by the steady rhythm of her heart and her quiet, deep breathing. She'd only worry about Edward. He'd deserved what he'd gotten from Jasper. _That_ had made Alice almost laugh out loud. She'd clamped her lips together in the last second, trying to stifle the giggle rising in her throat.

That Emmett had taken the place of the policeman could be good—or bad, depending on how things would go from here. Part of Alice's mind was constantly focused on the future now, more than usual. Important decisions hadn't been made yet, though, so there wasn't much to see, which only added to her increasing frustration. She wished she had gotten the vision of the robbery earlier, but there'd been too many pictures at once and the decision had virtually been made in the last minute… Other decisions, however, hadn't been made. Alice had caught only glimpses of would-have-beens and those were never very reliable—or distinct, for that matter—because the decisions they were based on were what-ifs. She'd gotten the impression that they'd chosen this bank randomly and with what she'd learned so far, that was probably the case.

Almost half of the robbers were planning to escape now by using the abandoned subway tunnel underneath the bank, the one Edward had briefly considered using. Fortunately, he'd discarded that idea or things would have been… interesting. As far as Alice could tell only very few of them knew that this wasn't actually a robbery. They'd taken enough from the vault to convince them and they were preparing to get away with their loot now. The rest were intending to stay, to make true on their threat to buy the _others _(Alice wished they, whoever 'they' were, would get around making a decision soon because it was driving her crazy that she didn't know) time. The real operation must have been fairly important or they wouldn't be so ready to kill everyone inside this bank.

Which brought Alice right back to their biggest problem. She doubted they'd find a way to get Bella out of here before the killing began. And, to be honest, Alice didn't want to be here when it did either. The corpse had begun to decompose and the cold blood didn't smell particularly enticing, but fresh blood _would_. There were a few who smelled good to Alice even _now_ and she'd rather be far, far away when their blood was spilled.

She didn't know how Rosalie felt about the matter because she hadn't asked, but she was probably thinking along the same lines.

If only Jasper would hurry up…

The phone started ringing. They'd stopped calling every fifteen minutes after the robbers had made their demands and now the person in charge was calling to inform them of the progress that had been made in that regard. Alice grimaced. They would _not_ be pleased.

Sweaty Man, so dubbed because of his questionable body odour, stomped out of the office area to pick up the phone. He was frowning. Alice caught glimpses of something that might be the first consequences of the decisions he was considering making, but it was nothing concrete. _Oh, for crying out loud!_ She wanted to grind her teeth together and stomp her foot in frustration! Why didn't they get on with it already? What was so important with this blasted second—and apparently very secret—operation? If they got out of here in time to interfere with this other operation, Alice would take it on herself to make sure they didn't succeed, just to spite them!

'If' was the word of the day, of course. Alice hated thinking in ifs. They made her dizzy and occasionally gave her headaches. Not real ones—vampires couldn't get headaches—but the feeling wasn't pleasant in any case.

The annoying ringing finally stopped as the Sweaty picked up the receiver. Alice heard the woman on the other end of the line clearly and decided that she liked her. She didn't sound like someone you'd want to cross, although she was trying to play nice. No, they hadn't been able to get a jet yet. That was something that took some time to arrange because they needed to clear it with the airport as they had to make sure there was a corridor the jet could use after it had taken off without accidentally colliding with another plane, one about to land. Yes, they had the cars ready and the police escort.

Alice had suspected from the beginning that it wouldn't have mattered if they had a whole fleet of jets ready; now her suspicion became certainty. The vision struck her and although she'd seen a shadow of it before she'd hoped until the last moment that the decision that would make it reality wouldn't be made. Well, it had now. At least the old lady was already almost dead, small comfort that that would be for her family. Alice didn't try to see if she had any because she found watching people cry depressing.

The receiver was slammed back down; Alice was surprised it didn't crack. Sweaty waved one of his man over to drag the old lady that was already drifting away into the office area where the other hostages wouldn't see how she was killed. That was a nice gesture, Alice thought rather sarcastically. She turned her head a little, catching Rosalie's eyes. Rose shrugged and sighed in acceptance.

Alice counted down in her head. The shot rang out the second she'd known it would. Bella, who'd managed to fall asleep again—Alice was glad; her growling stomach was making her feel thirsty—startled and awoke suddenly, her right elbow grazing Rosalie's back.

"Fuck," Bella whimpered quietly, a word that neither Rosalie nor Alice had ever heard Bella utter (Alice had assumed it wasn't part of her vocabulary), and they exchanged a quick, rather pained look: they'd both heard the soft crack that told them that a bone had fractured.


	9. Jasper Isn't Surprised

**A/N: **Thanks for staying with me! Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **The Twilight Saga is property of Stephenie Meyer. I'm only borrowing.

**Ninth Chapter…**

**…where Jasper isn't surprised**

"What now?" Jasper demanded somewhat exasperated when another wave of worry, this one tinged with the kind of anger that, in his experience, led to panic (and where panic was, stupidity usually wasn't far), flooded that sense of his that allowed him to feel other people's emotions. He spun around, holding on to the thought he'd just had, and found Edward staring at him and gaping like a fish as he tried in vain to form words, his emotions roiling. Jasper grabbed his shoulder, just to be on the safe side (he didn't want him to dash off again), and shook him.

"Bella broke her arm," he managed eventually, more of a whimper, really.

Jasper stared at him, wondering for a moment if Edward was joking, but if someone could break her arm sitting down and tied to other people, it was certainly Bella. "What happened?" he asked.

Edward shook his head. "I don't know. Alice is too far away and Emmett only heard her swear…" He trailed off as he took in Jasper's incredulous expression.

"And from that you deduce she broke her arm?" For the love of God, couldn't Edward be a little more positive? Jasper was finding the constant pessimism swirling around Edward rather tiring.

"She never swears," Edward said defensively—or defiantly; Jasper couldn't quite decide. True, Bella swearing was something he had yet to witness, but that didn't mean she'd hurt herself.

_But we _are_ talking about Bella here_, he reminded himself and sighed. "What else?"

"Emmett says a gun was fired."

"So?" Jasper knew that Edward had planned to join the Army upon his eighteenth birthday, but he couldn't help being glad that he'd been turned before he had the chance on account of the instructor that had been spared a lot of trouble that way. Edward would never make a good soldier. He was too whiny.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Edward snapped, anger flaring. He glared at Jasper with his hands balled to fists at his sides, definitely defiant now.

Jasper forced himself to calm down. Maybe he was being too hard on him. Alice could take care of herself and if it wasn't for Bella, he wouldn't even be here. Edward had had to worry about Bella's well-being from the moment she'd entered his life. That hadn't been easy for him because he'd never had to worry about someone before. If she was any human, a friend maybe, it wouldn't have been much of a problem, but Jasper was well aware that they were mated and because of that Edward couldn't _not_ worry. Not when there was even the remotest chance something might happen to Bella.

_He should have turned her months ago_, Jasper thought, irritated. He ignored Edward's growl at that thought and turned back to the blueprints (he couldn't help Edward right now anyway) he'd stared at for the better part of two hours now. He'd memorised them, he'd gone over so many different possibilities that his head rang and a few of could work… He'd have to go over them with Alice first, though. She'd hate it of course, those what-ifs decisions, but there was no other way. He knew she'd understand.

"Let's go," he told Edward, whose relief that they were finally doing something was tangible. Relief was one of the emotions Jasper felt ambivalent about. It could be quite enjoyable, almost like a rush; but if the emotions that came before were fear/despair or anger/fury (two categories of the Big Four—the most basic system used to classify emotions—he could do without) there was usually a sharp edge to it.

There was now, but Jasper ignored it because he couldn't do anything about it anyway.

Edward followed him, keeping his thoughts to himself. They didn't have to go far before Alice was in Edward's reach again. Jasper saw his brother cringe the second he knew they were close enough and suspected that maybe Edward had been right to worry.

"She did break her arm," he choked, horrified.

Jasper covered his face with his hands so that Edward didn't see his grin. If the situation wasn't so serious, he would have laughed. "How?" he asked, fighting to keep his face straight. It was of no use, of course, because Edward saw the truth in his mind, but it was a rule—a rule they had established a long time ago—that some things were to let go, knowing the truth or not. Other people didn't have what advantage Edward had and they wouldn't continue to harp on about what the people they were talking to had absolutely no inclination talking about.

"She hit her elbow on Rosalie's back."

All the discipline in the world couldn't have stopped Jasper from howling with laughter. _That _Bella would never hear the end of! He opened his mouth to say something, but laughter bubbled up in his throat anew.

Edward's gaze was chilly, although Jasper tried to infect him with the amusement he felt. How could he not be amused? This was so like Bella! "She really broke her arm on Rosalie?" he managed eventually, starting to laugh again the moment he'd said it.

"Can we get on with the planning already?" Edward snapped eventually, clearly not in the mood to be distracted.

"Patience is a virtue," Jasper said, forcing himself to think of battlefields and recruits, which usually helped him to calm down and focus. "Now, is Alice ready?"


	10. The Truth Is Revealed

**A/N: **Sorry for taking so long to post the next chapter, but here is now! Thank you, Aromene, for taking the time to review! Thanks to KayMarieXW, who betas this story, and has done a great job so far.

Enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** The Twilight Saga is property of Stephenie Meyer. I'm only borrowing.

**Tenth Chapter…**

**…where the truth is revealed**

Alice was happy that the others were finally doing something, but she was decidedly unhappy about the what-if futures Jasper wanted her to see. She did it all the time, of course, because people almost constantly changed their minds, but those decisions were different—they had been real once and more tangible. The vision that followed a what-if decision was far more elusive and difficult to grasp. Jasper had once asked her to explain, but Alice didn't think he'd understood, although it all made perfect sense to her. Then again, she couldn't fully comprehend how other people's emotions influenced him because she lacked his empathic sense.

_Bella's fine_, she thought because she knew Edward was tearing his hair out there—figuratively—and Alice would rather he didn't try something stupid again. The last time had been quite enough. Alice glanced over her shoulder. Rosalie had managed to place her hands around Bella's elbow to cool it so that it wouldn't swell beyond what it already had. Bella was silently enduring the pain. _Brave girl_, Alice thought proudly. _Clumsy, but brave._ She relayed her thoughts on the matter to Edward and asked him to tell Jasper that she was ready.

Oh, but Jasper had been busy!

With the first decision, the first vision came. If they found a way to get Bella out of the main hall and into the offices in the back… Emmett was just a few doors away; he could get her out while Edward distracted the sniper and Jasper made the robbers drowsy… Alice made decisions of her own. How could they get Bella in the back? If she asked to go to the toilet, she'd get the same treatment that poor woman had gotten. If they arranged for Bella to be arranged as the next casualty… Oh, Edward would hate that! Would it work? Alice sifted through the possibilities. Maybe. She gave it a forty per cent chance if everything went exactly as Jasper had planned, but Alice knew that 'if' wasn't a word Jasper was inclined to base an operation on.

_Next_, she told Edward.

The visions changed as Jasper changed his mind. It was hazy like the first (_blasted what-ifs_, Alice thought absently) but something she could work with. A more direct approach this time, something Emmett would just love! Edward would knock the sniper unconscious as he had with that unfortunate policeman that Emmett had replaced. Then he, Emmett and Jasper would storm the bank, take out the robbers that happened to be in their way—here it got complicated—then one of them, dressed exactly like the robbers, would take Bella, along with Rosalie and Alice, in the back. The others would think they were to be shot… Alice made a face. Yes, it would get Bella—and her and Rosalie—out in one piece, but it would also draw attention to them. Not now, but later. They were on the tape of the security camera—Alice hadn't known about it before, but she saw someone reviewing it over and over again—and sooner or later someone would start wondering why they hadn't been with the other hostages.

_No good_, she said. _Maybe if we just took Bella… That could work. Rose and I stand out too much, but there are at least four women with Bella's built and haircut with us. _She looked ahead into the changing images. _Yes, that's it!_ she exclaimed joyfully. _But you'll have to be careful. Don't knock that sniper out, just make him sleepy if you can. Edward can dress up…_ Alice grimaced. Oh, that was _not_ a good idea! _Scratch that! Edward, you stay out of here. Am I clear? Have Emmett raise the alarm so that the police know that something's happening. Hopefully they'll intervene before the robbers have recovered. Jasper, knock out whoever you can, then grab Bella and get her out. Yes._ Alice looked once more, went over every decision that had to be made in order to achieve the desired outcome. There was a small hitch. She frowned a little. Eight of the robbers intended to escape by way of the subway tunnel underneath the bank. Alice wanted to wait until they were gone, but she wasn't sure she could. If a 'robber' came for Bella so soon after the last person had been killed… That would be suspicious. Besides, Jasper would lose his focus if he got close to so much fresh blood and she'd rather that didn't happen.

_We don't wait, then_.

She decided not to tell Bella what was about to happen. She wasn't a very good actress and she wanted her reactions to be as real as possible; they'd be more believable that way.

She settled back against Bella's back, waiting. Five minutes. She'd been in here all night and day, but suddenly she was getting impatient. To distract herself she listened to the muffled voices of the robbers down in the basement.

Suddenly she sat up. Rosalie had heard it, too.

"They'll get in, don't worry," Sweaty muttered soothingly to nobody in particular as far as Alice could tell; maybe he was talking to himself. "Everything will be alright and when we have it, they're going to do what _we_ say for a change." He drew a deep breath. He dialled his cell phone, then said, "Go."

Alice stared in horror at the vision unfolding in her mind.


	11. Time For A Contingency Plan

**A/N: **And here's the next chapter. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, alerted to me or added NYNY to their Favourites list! You've made me very happy, guys! Hope you'll like it. A special thanks to **KayMarieXW** for beta-ing!

**Disclaimer: **The Twilight Saga is property of Stephenie Meyer. I'm only borrowing.

**Eleventh Chapter…**

**…where it's time for a contingency plan**

"Alright," Jasper said, planting himself in front of Edward and Emmett. "Are there any questions?" He let his gaze linger on Edward, hoping he wouldn't ask to be included yet again because that was out of the question. Edward knew that, but it hadn't stopped him from asking. Alice's instructions had been clear and Jasper trusted her visions implicitly. If she didn't want Edward inside the bank, Jasper would make sure he wasn't, even if it meant having Emmett sit on top of him.

"You sure you want to go in there alone?" Emmett asked wistfully.

"I'm sure I'll be fine." Jasper's answer was more than just a bit ironic. "I'll be in and out in no time and then we'll get word to the police that they can take over. Hopefully she'll stay asleep long enough." Making the female sniper fall asleep had been easier than he'd anticipated, but Jasper certainly wasn't going to complain about it. "Any radio transmissions?"

Emmett had been forced to knock his relief out as well; they'd thrown him in with the other one and Alice had promised they'd stay unconscious for at least another hour. If things went as planned, they'd be long gone by then.

Emmett patted the radio that was fixed against his shoulder. "Nope, everything's silent. You'll be the first to know if that changes."

Jasper rubbed his hands together almost gleefully. To be honest, he was looking forward to this operation. He hadn't done anything like it in… well, too long. The newborns had offered a new challenge—Jasper pretended not to notice the glare Edward shot his way—but it hadn't taken a genius to come up with a plan to deal with them. This was much more challenging.

"I'm going in now," Jasper announced.

Emmett moved out of the way with a grin while Edward looked as if he was about to attend a funeral. Jasper rolled his eyes and ignored him both and, having sent another wave of sleepiness in the direction of the sniper just to be safe, broke open the door. Jasper didn't need what little light filtered in, so he quickly closed the door once he'd slipped inside. The man who'd been told to guard the door glanced up in surprise. Jasper felt a surge of incredulous surprise and knocked the man over the head just as he opened his mouth to yell for backup. He toppled over like overcooked broccoli. Jasper caught him before he hit the floor—the thump might have given him away—and settled the man against the wall, knowing he'd be out cold for some time.

Then he turned around to get his bearings, recalling the memorised blueprint of the building into his mind, then started running. He missed the feeling of adrenaline coursing through his body, but some things couldn't be helped and being a vampire made up for it anyway. He blew down the corridor leading to the office area. Four of the robbers were currently busy getting out by way of the subway tunnel as quickly as they could and Jasper didn't even spare them a second thought.

The other eight that had settled in the office of the bank director didn't know what had hit them. Jasper almost regretted that they didn't stand a chance. It would have been so much more fun if they had fought back.

Not that any human would ever stand a chance against him.

They were unconscious within a matter of seconds. Only one was dead—Jasper had accidentally crushed his windpipe. The others were merely unconscious, although Jasper couldn't say with absolute certainty that they wouldn't retain some permanent damage. It was very hard to knock out a human without hurting him. They were annoyingly fragile.

The leader—he did smell like he hadn't showered in days; Jasper had thought Alice was exaggerating—was quickly undressed. Jasper was leaner in build, so the clothes were a little tight, but it didn't really bother him.

He hadn't had this much fun in a century!

"Jasper, we have a big, big problem," Alice said suddenly, her voice down to a whisper even Jasper with his vampiric hearing could barely hear. "I can't emphasise how big it is. We're going to have to improvise."

Jasper wasn't a big fan of improvisation. He pulled the ski mask over his head, grabbed one of the guns that were lying around—he couldn't believe how careless they were!—and strode out of the office, trying to move like a clumsy human.

"Care to elaborate?" he asked, nodding to the four men that were milling around in front of the main entrance. If they were Jasper's men, he'd have given him a piece of his mind—he could tell they weren't paying close attention. In fact, they were downright bored. They barely acknowledged his presence.

He took his time, letting his gaze wander of the hostages. The aura of fear they gave off was making him uneasy. It wasn't an emotional climate he enjoyed; he tried to avoid it because it made him remember his time with Maria and the dark time after, before Alice had found him.

"Let me put it this way," Alice continued. "Is there any context in which 'bio weapon' and 'guy with a grudge' sounds like a good thing?"

Jasper groaned. "That's what they really want to break into? A bio lab?" This was _not_ good. There were no words to describe how so not good this was. "What did you have in mind?"


	12. Things Take An Unexpected Turn

**A/N: **Here's the next chapter. I have no idea when I'll be able to post the next. The new semester started yesterday and I still have Internet connection problems at my new flat. A technician is supposed to come and sort things out tomorrow, but as the last technician I was promised didn't show, I'm not very optimistic.

Thanks to KayMarieXW for beta-ing and thanks to semper and Aromene for reviewing!

Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **The Twilight Saga is property of Stephenie Meyer. I'm only borrowing.

**Twelfth Chapter…**

**…where things take an unexpected turn for Bella**

Bella was in pain. It hadn't been so bad at first, given how high her tolerance for pain was. Bella had been in so many accidents that she'd lost count and she'd learned to deal with pain, but that didn't mean she was masochistic.

But boy, did her elbow _hurt_! Well, actually her entire arm hurt now, the pain radiating as far as her shoulder. She didn't even dare move half an inch; the dull throbbing turned almost unbearable then. Rosalie had gently wrapped her hands around Bella's elbow. She'd had to break the cable tie with which her hands were tied together in order to do so, but Bella assumed she'd have an excuse ready in case one of the robbers noticed. At least the cold helped a little, but not much.

How clumsy did you have to be to break your arm sitting down while tied to other people?

Alice and Rosalie were deep in a conversation. Bella had no clue what they were talking about because neither bothered telling her anything, as usual. Under different circumstances Bella would have found it quite annoying to be excluded like that. As it was, she hoped that this unfortunate situations would resolve itself soon because she really, really, _really_ wanted to go see a doctor, get a nice cast, pop two or three Vicodin, find a restroom and get something to eat.

_Not necessarily in that order_, Bella thought, _because I have to pee before I do anything else._

Suddenly she felt Alice stiffen.

"What?" Bella whispered between clenched teeth. She'd kept her lips pressed firmly together because she didn't want to scream; she knew from experience that it only brought only temporary relief and she didn't want to alert the robbers. They'd certainly wonder how she'd managed to break her arm, which—with any other person—would have been a valid question.

Alice just slightly shook her head and Rosalie didn't volunteer anything either, so Bella focused on trying to breathe through the pain again. She'd lost track of time, but it had been a while since that poor woman had been shot and she knew they'd come for someone else soon. She wasn't really scared, but she knew that it was possible they'd choose her and there wasn't anything Rosalie and Alice would be able to do about it. Not without revealing that they were more than human. Bella forbade herself to _hope_ they'd pick someone else—that just would have been monumentally wrong. But contrary to what Edward seemed to believe, she also didn't have a death wish. She didn't want to die, not this way, not permanently. The thought of what Edward would do if she was really, truly dead was enough to make her feel sick.

That she hadn't eaten anything in over twenty-four or so hours didn't help.

The robber who'd taken the old woman—at least she assumed it was the same; it was difficult to tell, what with the ski mask—returned, pausing briefly to look around the room in search for his next victim, before he strode purposefully towards Bella, Alice and Rosalie. Bella shrank back against Alice's back. Her hands started to tremble and searing pain shot up her arm, making her eyes water. _Not me!_ she thought desperately, although not taking her would mean taking someone else and she couldn't sentence someone else to die. She'd never be able to live with herself.

He swiftly removed the rope that bound her to Alice and Rosalie, leaving only the cable tie. He pulled her onto her feet, then started shoving her towards the office area. She kept shooting pleading glances in Rosalie and Alice's direction even though she knew that it was to no avail, that they _couldn't_ help her even if they'd wanted to. There was too much at stake. Bella tried to tell herself that their lives were so much more important than her own, but she could feel the panic seeping into her mind. Her body began shaking and she tripped over her feet. Tightening the grip on her shoulder, the robber kept her from falling.

As they left the main hall and entered one of the offices, the tip of Bella's sneaker caught on the threshold. She lurched forward, pain that made her see stars exploding in her elbow as she hit it on the wooden doorframe. She whimpered quietly, tears streaming down her face.

"Edward is going to kill me," the robber said, sighing. "Come on up." The cable tie was gone in a flash and Bella found herself lifted up and cradled against the alleged robber's chest.

"Jasper?" Bella gasped, blinking the tears away. For a moment she even forgot that she was in pain.

Reaching up with his free arm, he pulled the mask off his head and flashed her a broad grin.

There were a lot of things Bella could have said. That she was grateful that she didn't have to die today. That she was happy to see him.

Instead she said, "I'm so going to kill Alice."

Jasper laughed. "Well, in her defence, your acting skills do leave something to be desired."

"She didn't tell me because of my acting skills?" Bella exclaimed, indignant. "I thought I was about to die!"

Jasper's grin vanished and was replaced by sympathy. "Yes, I know. I'm sorry. If it's any consolation, I felt it too and it wasn't very pleasant." He surprised her by pecking her on the cheek.

It wasn't any consolation to Bella—not even remotely—but she didn't press the point. Instead she placed her head against Jasper's shoulder, taking care not to move her arm. "What now?" she asked.

"Now I'm going to get Alice and Rosalie because we have a problem far worse than a bank robbery. I'll tell you the rest on the way to the hospital. Will you be alright for a moment?"

"Yes," Bella said, "I think so. And can you hurry?" She grimaced. "I really, really need to pee."


	13. Rosalie Has Some Fun

**A/N: When I posted the first chapter I never imagined getting that kind of response! I'm so happy that you guys enjoy this so much. It's fun writing and I'm a little sad that I'm almost done (just finished the 19th chapter and there are only a few more to come). Thank you so much Aromene, DutchGirl01, twihardchick29, mwjen and semper for reviewing and a special thanks to KayMarieXW for beta-ing!**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: The Twilight Saga is property of Stephenie Meyer. I'm only borrowing!**

**Thirteenth Chapter…**

**…where Rosalie finally has some fun**

Rosalie was getting impatient. Jasper had taken Bella what seemed hours ago! Of course it hadn't been more than a minute or two, but Rosalie had been sitting here for so long that it felt much, much longer. She was bored. Bella breaking her arm had provided for some amusement, but that had worn off rather quickly as Rosalie had been required to play ice pack so her arm wouldn't swell. And what Alice had learned hadn't improved Rosalie's mood either.

Rosalie was aware that the human capacity for stupidity was quite remarkable, but one would think they'd learn from their mistakes. Apparently that wasn't the case and if the raid on the bio lab wasn't stopped, they'd a have a problem. A big one. Rosalie had read enough official—and not-so-official—reports about incidents in bio labs all over the world. Things seemed to go wrong more often than they didn't. At least these days these kinds of labs were normally built in the back of beyond where nobody would notice, or be in any danger (except for the labs' staffs, of course, but they knew what they were getting themselves into) if things went down the drain—which they did a lot. Why someone would build a bio lab right here in Manhattan was beyond Rosalie. If the virus they were currently working on there left isolation of the lab, New York would face a crisis worse than anything they had had to deal with up until now.

Normally the Cullens would never think of interfering because accidents happened and it wasn't up to them to fix them. This, however, was bigger than all of them. If the virus got out—and if they didn't do _something_, Alice was a hundred per cent sure that it would—millions of people would die horribly. They weren't going to let that happen, even if it meant that they'd have to disappear for a few years or decades. They'd done it before. They'd do it again.

Rosalie didn't care much for humans, but she wouldn't be able to live with herself if she just sat back and did nothing.

"I bet you're not mad at me anymore," Alice said, sounding smug.

Rosalie stifled an exasperated sigh, not bothering to grace Alice with an answer. Her anger had worn off, but that didn't mean she wouldn't make Alice pay for the mess she'd gotten the three of them into later. Rosalie couldn't believe they'd entered this bank for so stupid a reason. Knowing the sales assistant would be more than disappointed when she finally learned that she'd dragged all those dresses out for nothing, Alice and Rosalie (well, Alice really; Rosalie couldn't have cared less) had decided to tip her generously. Only Alice—who had never ever forgotten something for as long as Rosalie had known her—had left the envelope at the hotel.

"If you'd just bought a dress or two–" Rosalie began, only to be interrupted immediately.

"Didn't I explain at length why that wasn't an option?" Alice said patronisingly, as if she thought Rosalie was being deliberately dense.

_I am not_, Rosalie thought sullenly. _I just can't keep up with these schemes of hers. _Rosalie had been against Alice's plan to go to New York (as she had told both Bella and Edward on numerous occasions, just to make sure nobody would try to blame her for it later), but Alice never listened to anyone. Least of all Rosalie.

"Tax reasons," Alice continued, not that Rosalie was particularly interested in what she had to say. "That's why I wanted to give her cash."

Rosalie rolled her eyes. Fortunately Jasper chose this very moment to return to the main hall, saving Rosalie from whatever Alice had been about to say next. Rosalie smiled slightly. The plan they'd whipped up was exactly to her liking.

"Take them," Jasper ordered in a raspy voice, gesturing first at the four robbers still in the main hall, then at Alice and Rosalie, who did their very best to squeal in fear. Squealing was beneath Rosalie, but she did anyway and if it sounded somewhat gleeful, the robbers didn't seem to notice. Why would they? They exchanged confused looks before one of them shrugged and sauntered over, the others following closely behind.

"Please," Alice whimpered very convincingly as one of them pulled her up by the collar of her shirt. Rosalie had a hard time not shaking with laughter and by the looks of it so did Jasper. He was coughing suspiciously as the two of them were dragged in the office area. Jasper closed and locked the door before they had a chance to peek in the main office where their comrades lay sprawled on the four, all of them unconscious or more permanently incapacitated.

"Should we let them try to shoot us," Rosalie wondered aloud, not bothering to pitch her voice so that the robbers couldn't hear. The robber holding up Alice like a misbehaving puppy shot her a strange look.

"Nah," Alice replied cheerfully, twisted out of his grip and knocked him over the head with the side of her hand. He went out like a candle, his eyes rolling backwards in his head as he slumped to the floor. Alice had to climb over him to reach the next robber who had the sense to bring his gun up, not that it would do him much good. Alice grabbed the barrel of his weapon and crushed it, a sweet smile on her face. The robber gave a strangled cry, turned on his heels and tried to make a run for it. He tripped when Alice suddenly appeared out of thin air in front of him. Stumbling backwards, he tried for the opposite direction, only to find his way blocked by Alice anew. His heart was racing and the delicious smell of fear wafting off him. Finally taking pity on him, Alice sent him to sleep as well.

The two robbers who stood behind Rosalie had been watching in morbid fascination, stiff with shock. Now they recovered and went straight for Alice, not even trying to use their guns. Rosalie grabbed them by their shirts and yanked them back. They lost their balance and hit the ground hard, skidding over the marble floor until they banged headfirst into the wall.

_That has to hurt_, Rosalie thought gleefully as she ambled over. Within seconds they were out cold.

"That was fun," she said.

Alice and Jasper, who'd pulled off the ski mask, looked at her as if she had lost her mind.

"Well, it was, wasn't it?" Rosalie asked as innocently as she was capable of, stalking past them in the main office where Bella was sitting on a sofa, clutching her broken arm.

"Good, you're here," was all she said, completely unfazed by the bodies around her. "I need to pee." She gestured at her arm. "And I'm afraid I need some help."


	14. Everyone Gets A Little Break

**A/N: **Thank you, thank you! I loved every single one of the reviews you guys wrote me! It makes me so happy that you enjoy reading NYNY as much as I enjoy writing it.

This chapter was inspired by KayMarieXW. I hope you like it!

I also have good news for those who read my story Lifelines. The next chapter is almost done!

**Disclaimer: **The Twilight Saga is property of Stephenie Meyer. I'm only borrowing.

**Fourteenth Chapter…**

**…where everyone gets a little break**

"This is not good," Bella said, neatly summing up what everyone else was thinking. Alice, Rosalie, Jasper, Emmett and Edward were standing around Bella's narrow bed in the ER, trying to be inconspicuous about it, but people were starting to shoot curious looks their way. Edward didn't notice (he was too busy cooling Bella's fractured elbow with the ice pack a nurse had dropped off earlier), but Alice did and she was slightly worried. They had attracted too much attention today already. Of course they'd destroyed every single video camera inside the bank along, but there was nothing to be done about the recording that showed Alice, Bella and Rosalie entering the bank.

_Well_, Alice thought. _We'll have a few months before someone notices. Plenty of time to have the wedding! It's a shame Bella will have to wear a cast…_

Edward glared at her in response. He didn't share her opinion. Bella had a broken arm, they'd have to leave Forks and disappear sooner than they'd planned and all of that because Alice had insisted on dragging Bella to New York! If she hadn't, they wouldn't be in this mess.

Granted, then they probably wouldn't know about the planned break-in either.

"What about the robbers?" Jasper asked tensely. His tension had nothing to do with the matter at hand but with the fact that they were inside an ER. Alice had picked this hospital because she'd known that it would be safe for Jasper to go inside (no bleeding patients), but there was only so much he could do about the emotions assaulting him. Fortunately his empathic sense didn't enable him to feel other people's physical pain. _Un_fortunately he felt the emotions usually associated with pain and the emotional climate he was currently forced to endure was decidedly unpleasant. As he wanted to be part of this discussion though, he didn't have much choice.

"They won't remember much when—or in some cases if—they wake up," Alice replied confidently. "Rose and I hit their heads pretty hard and the ones in the main office never saw Jasper's face. That's not our biggest problem. The break-in in the bio lab is."

"You actually want to do something about it?" Bella asked, frowning a little. She was no longer in pain, thanks to the meds she'd been given. It didn't look like she was getting out here anytime soon because the ER was understaffed and a broken arm was hardly what one would call a critical case. "Isn't that against, um, the law?" She hadn't forgotten her visit to Italy and probably never would.

"Not if we're careful," Jasper said thoughtfully. "Alice says there's an eighty per cent change we'll get in and out unseen, but–"

"Seventy-eight point three," Alice piped in, grinning.

Ignoring her, Jasper continued, "But we're going to have to kill the terrorists."

"Terrorists?" Rosalie asked incredulously.

"Well, what would you call them?" Jasper asked, his voice very, very serious. "They want to steal a deadly virus and release it if the government doesn't comply with their demands."

"Only that's not what's going to happen if we do nothing," Alice added, the grin gone now. "There's going to be an accident, meaning the virus is going to be set free in," she briefly checked her watch, "precisely one hour and twenty-one minutes. That's not a lot of time, so we'd better get started."

Just as Emmett was about to open his mouth (probably to suggest something very unhelpful; strategising wasn't Emmett's strong suit) Alice raised her hand, cutting him off. She made a face and Edward growled in response to what he'd seen in her mind, causing Bella to sigh.

_What now?_

"I'm not leaving!" Edward snarled hotly, wrapping his arms around Bella and almost crushing her other elbow in the process. "I almost lost her today. I'm not leaving her alone!" The thought of him deliberately hurting Bella was preposterous!

"Yes, you are," Alice replied, in a voice tolerating no dissent. "In fact, all of you are going to step outside for a moment. We don't want the doctor to think one of you broke Bella's arm and call the police because she suspects a case of domestic violence, now do we? Besides, you didn't even come close to losing her today. I never saw anything of the sort." That was a blatant lie, but Alice had mastered the art of shutting Edward out ages ago and he never saw that thought cross her mind.

Grumbling, he softly kissed Bella on the forehead and then left, Emmett and Jasper right behind to keep him from turning around in case he changed his mind. When it came to Bella, the part of Edward's brain responsible for rational thought didn't seem to function properly.

"Call Carlisle and bring him up to speed," Jasper suggested, handing Edward his cell phone and narrowing his eyes when he didn't dial immediately.

"Fine!" Edward snapped eventually. For a moment he looked like the seventeen-year-old teenager that he was as he stomped into a corner to talk to Carlisle without interruption. Jasper had texted him on the way to the hospital after Alice had informed the police, anonymously of course, that the robbers had been taken care off (Alice had had to throw her cell phone away afterwards so that it couldn't be traced), but all he'd written was 'We're okay. Don't worry. Everything under control.' There was just no way to fit everything that had happened in a single text message!

Carlisle answered on the first ring. "Are you alright?" he demanded.

"Yes, we are," Edward said. "Bella broke her arm, but we're at the hospital right now and we'll go to the bio lab directly from here."

"Bio lab?" Carlisle asked, clearly confused. "What bio lab?"

In the background I heard Esme ask, "How did Bella break her arm?"

"I thought Jasper explained everything?" Edward asked, now confused as well.

"He texted, yes, but I wouldn't exactly call it an explanation."

Edward glared at Jasper, who pretended to be fascinated by one of the posters that covered every inch of the wall. Unfortunately for Jasper the one he'd picked was about PMS. Edward snickered. He was never going to let him forget that!

"Are you still there?" Carlisle sounded decidedly displeased. "Would you please tell me what the hell is going on?" As Edward couldn't remember Carlisle ever using that kind of language, he quickly filled him in. The last thing he wanted was to be welcomed home by an angry Carlisle. True, he also couldn't remember Carlisle ever getting angry, but there was a first time for everything.

"…so we drove to the hospital because Bella broke her elbow on Rosalie's back," he concluded.

"Bella broke her arm on Rosalie's back?" Carlisle asked very slowly, as if he wasn't certain he'd heard Edward correctly. "Is she alright?"

"Yes, she did and yes, she's fine. The doctor is with her right now and Rose has offered to stay with her while we're at the lab, assuming we figure out how to get in. Alice has a few ideas, though. And here I thought talking to you about sex was going to be difficult," Edward added absently, only realising what he'd said when he was met with total silence.

_Oh…_

"You wanted to talk to me about sex?" Carlisle asked even more slowly than before. "About what exactly? Surely you know how it works."

"Yes, of course I know how it works," Edward replied crossly, silently cursing every single human that happened to walk along the hallway he, Jasper and Emmett were standing in right now. He wanted to knock that smirk off Emmett's face! "That's not what I wanted to talk to you about. Look, we can discuss this when I get home. I don't–"

"You want to make love to her while she's still human, don't you?" Esme suddenly exclaimed.

"It wasn't my idea!" he said defensively. "You both know how she gets when she sets her mind to something. She's so… unreasonable, determined, obstinate. Take your pick!"

"I think he's right, Esme," Edward heard Carlisle say softly. "We can talk about this later. We'll see you when you get home. Good luck." With that he hung up.

Emmett and Jasper were howling with laughter. Edward sent the phone flying at Emmett's head and it connected with a distinct _crack_!

"That was brand new!" Jasper complained as he picked up the tiny pieces. "I'd just finished reprogramming it."

"Bite me!" Edward snapped back. "Both of you." He stalked past them to return to Bella's bedside.


	15. New Complications Arise

**A/N: Glad you liked the last chapter! It's my favourite so far. Thanks for reviewing again and of course thanks to KayMarieXW, who's a wonderful beta.**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: The Twilight Saga is property of Stephenie Meyer. I'm only borrowing.**

**Fifteenth Chapter…**

**…where new complications arise**

"That incompetent woman!" Edward growled under his breath, glaring furiously at the x-ray image that had been taken of Bella's elbow although, it was hardly its fault that the attending physician had missed—or dismissed (Edward didn't know which)—that tiny fragment of bone that was bound to work its way into Bella's bloodstream if it wasn't properly secured to the rest of the bone.

Bella patted his arm to calm him, but Edward barely registered her touch. Why did nothing go according to plan today? They should have left for the bio lab ten minutes go, but they had postponed their departure so that Rosalie and Alice could go looking for another doctor, one who was willing to question the authority of the attending.

So far they'd come up empty.

"Is it really that big a deal?" Emmett asked, peering at the image as well. He immediately detected the microscopic fragment of bone that had Edward's panties in a twist, but he failed to see what the problem was. "It's so small."

"That fragment," Edward hissed in response, his temper getting the better of him again, "won't stay there. Sooner or later it will get into Bella's bloodstream and travel to her heart or her brain. She could _die_! So yes, Emmett, it is a big deal!"

"I'm sitting right here, you know," Bella said, but failed to get Edward's attention, which was on the x-ray image again. He seemed to be hoping it would change if only he stared at it long enough. She glanced at Emmett and shrugged. "Maybe you should call Carlisle. How fast do you think he could be here?"

Emmett ran his hand through his hair thoughtfully. "It took us a little over four hours. I'll give him a call."

"Already have," Alice announced, returning to the ER with Rosalie in tow. They both looked livid. In theory, they understood perfectly why nobody wanted to contradict the attending. In practice they were (especially Rosalie, who had a medical degree after all) shocked by how quickly their concerns had been dismissed. Nobody had even bothered to look at the second x-ray image they'd taken with them. Alice was beginning to regret that she'd chosen this particular hospital. "He and Esme are already on their way and they'll board a plane to Minneapolis in," she stared into the distance for half a second, "seven minutes. It was supposed to leave an hour ago, but apparently there was some technical problem. Anyway, they'll be here in four hours and seventeen minutes, meaning we can leave. Rose will stay and make sure nobody is tempted to put a cast around Bella's arm. You know," she added after a moment, brightening visibly, "that's actually a good thing."

"What about this is good?" Edward roared suddenly, causing other patients to look their way. Jasper, growing tired of Edward's flaring temper, doused him with a wave apathy so strong that Edward's eyes grew unfocused for a moment. He swayed and Emmett used his momentary distraction to place his hands securely on his shoulders to keep him from launching himself at Alice.

"If they use wire to hold the bone fragments together, Bella won't need a cast," Alice continued, undeterred. "No cast means perfect wedding pictures, which is at least something considering that we'll have to move the wedding ahead."

Bella could only shake her head at that. Alice's one-track mind was something you had to experience first-hand to believe. They were about to leave on a mission that would save millions of lives—or kill just as many if they failed—and all Alice could think about was the blasted wedding. Bella should never have agreed to letting Alice have free reign. Edward's plan to elope to Las Vegas suddenly sounded very good again. Maybe they could…

Alice regarded her with an icy glare.

Bella sighed. Okay, so maybe they couldn't. Alice would probably tie her to a chair to make sure she got the wedding she thought Bella deserved.

"Let's go then," Jasper said. "We're already behind schedule."

Bella hadn't known there was a schedule, but then she'd tried the better part of the last fifteen minutes to keep Edward from tracking down that doctor and give her a piece of his mind, which would certainly have resulted in them being thrown out of the hospital. Bella was glad he and Rosalie had detected that bone fragment because she really didn't want to die that way, but he was completely overreacting.

_No surprise there_, she thought. _Well, if we move the wedding ahead, it means he'll change me sooner than we thought. He'll hate it, but hopefully this mess will make him realise that I'd be better off as a vampire. Hope springs eternal, doesn't it?_

Emmett tightened his grip on Edward's shoulder, marching him out of the ER after he'd allowed him to kiss Bella goodbye, and Jasper and Alice followed. Rosalie sat down on the edge of Bella's bed, looking after them rather doubtfully.

"Are you really sure you want to marry my brother?" she asked eventually. "Oh yes, I forgot," she said when she saw the expression on Bella's face. "It wasn't really your idea anyway."

"No, it was not," she replied. "And if he hadn't gotten it into his head to marry me, we wouldn't even be here." Then she sighed. "But you'd better keep that to yourself. He really doesn't need another thing to blame himself for."


	16. Esme Worries

**A/N: I received so many reviews for the last three chapters that I'm still feeling a little overwhelmed. Thank you so much, guys! Here's the next chapter. Sorry it's taken me so long to update. It's been sitting finished on my hard drive for a while. Shame on me!**

**Thanks you, KayMarieXW for beta-ing!**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: The Twilight Saga is property of Stephenie Meyer. I'm only borrowing.**

**Sixteenth Chapter…**

**…where Esme worries**

"Please stop fretting, love," Carlisle said, trying very hard to keep the edge of exasperation out of his voice. Esme must have heard it anyway, for he saw hurt flash in her eyes before she turned to look at the screen embedded in the headrest of the seat in front of her. Closing his eyes, Carlisle drew a deep breath and counted to ten, willing himself to calm down.

"I'm sorry," he said eventually, placing his hand over Esme's, which lay on her thigh. She kept staring ahead as if completely captivated by the film she had selected in order to distract herself. It hadn't worked of course. If it had, Carlisle thought, they wouldn't be having this rather one-sided conversation. He understood and shared Esme's concern, but he trusted his children to have everything under control. There wasn't anything they could do to help them—other than making sure Bella got properly treated—and in Carlisle's experience it was best not to worry about things one had no influence over anyway. Esme obviously didn't agree, for which Carlisle didn't even blame her. He just wished she'd see that none of their children were in any danger. True, he found the prospect of having to disappear from the face of the earth for a few decades not particularly appalling because he quite loved his work and he knew he'd miss it. But this was hardly the first time they had had to do such a thing, mainly because of Emmett, who had less qualms than everyone else about 'falling off the wagon' as he always put it.

They were still in the air, but it couldn't be long now before they landed and they'd run the rest of the way, like the boys had the day before. In the past few hours Carlisle had repeatedly asked himself if he'd been right to alert the rest of his family to the fact that Rosalie, Alice and Bella were being held hostage. It wasn't as if the girls weren't incapable of looking after Bella. Carlisle knew his son well and even as he'd dialled Esme's number he'd expected Edward to go charging off to New York—which he had. At least he'd taken his brothers with him. Everyone knew that Edward wasn't able to think rationally where Bella was concerned. Carlisle had to admit it was the same with him and Esme, but Esme could take care of herself and, in contrast to Bella, couldn't be shot to death.

Still, maybe it would have been better not to tell him. He'd have been mad as hell afterwards, but Carlisle could have lived with that. _But if you hadn't told him_, a voice in the back of his mind reminded him, _then they wouldn't be there to stop this break-in. Would you really want to see another plague like the Spanish Flu?_ No, Carlisle didn't want to see so much misery ever again, not if he could help it. Those days had been difficult. They had known so little then and what information they'd had hadn't been enough.

"I'm sorry," Esme said miserably, breaking into his reverie. She grasped his hand and leaned over to snuggle against his chest. Carlisle had been born in a time where people had been much more reserved and would never have shown much—if any—affection in public. Times had changed, but Carlisle had not (not as much as he would like) and he was grateful that the first class area of the plane was nearly empty. "I just wish I hadn't allowed them to go, that's all."

Carlisle almost laughed, but just almost because that would have upset Esme. As if anyone could stop Alice from going through with her plans! Bella and Edward's wedding was the best example. Privately Carlisle was still surprised that Bella had agreed to such a thing because it certainly wasn't her style. To be completely honest, Carlisle would have liked a quieter affair much better as well. His and Esme's wedding had been lovely, even with Edward and Rosalie—and the pastor of course—being the only guests in attendance. To have so grand a wedding must have been Alice's idea. Carlisle hoped Bella hadn't said yes just to make Alice happy.

_Oh well_, he thought. _They can't have it now anyway because we'll have to leave sooner than we thought._

"It's not your fault, love," he said to Esme. "It's nobody's fault. Look at it this way—Alice's decision to go to New York will save millions of life. True, it's sad that Bella got injured in the process, but a broken arm is easy enough to fix and in a few weeks it won't matter anyway. She'll be one of us then."

"I just don't want anything to happen to them," Esme replied. "And then Edward and Bella's honeymoon…" She straightened so that she could look at him properly, placing her hands against his chest. "You must tell them to wait until she's been changed," she implored him. "Bella is so fragile and, well, you know how hard it is to stay in control. Just think how Edward would feel if he accidentally killed her. I don't want to lose him and if Bella dies, especially at his hand, he'll be off to Italy again and none of us will be able to stop him."

Esme's voice had grown louder and more agitated with every word. The business man who sat a row down peered over the headrest of his seat to see what was going on. Carlisle shot him an apologetic smile, showing a little more teeth than really necessary. Blanching, he sank back into his seat and concentrated on his laptop.

"I'll talk to them," he promised, although he doubted he'd be able to convince Bella to wait. It wasn't a conversation he was certain he wanted to have, but there was no way around it. "But for now let's focus on getting to New York, alright?" he added, kissing Esme's forehead.

**A/N: I'm on Twitter since yesterday! Follow me if you like TheaJa1 !**


	17. The Action Is About To Commence

**A/N: Update, update! A thank you to all who alerted to me and who took the time to the review. As always a very special thank you to KayMarieXW for beta-ing! This chapter is on the shortish side, so I'll try to post the next as quickly as my schedule allows!**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: The Twilight Saga is property of Stephenie Meyer. I'm only borrowing!**

**Seventeenth Chapter…**

**…where the action is about to commence**

Alice wasn't enjoying herself as much as she thought she would.

She'd been secretly looking forward to this operation because she'd never done anything like it and was convinced that it would be fun. Now she wasn't so sure. She'd expected her vision to change once they'd decided to intervene, but it hadn't and that worried her. She'd seen what the virus would do if it was released and she'd do everything in her power to keep it from happening. Unfortunately that didn't seem to matter, for the vision didn't change. Well, Alice conceded, that wasn't entirely true. It did change, but the changes were minute—the exist the terrorist (which, Alice had decided, was a perfectly appropriate term for people willing to kill millions because of some twisted agenda) would use to leave the building changed constantly, for example—and Alice was certain that these changes hinged completely on the decisions of their opponents and not their own. That worried her more than anything else, that their decision to stop them had had no effect on her vision whatsoever.

Alice and Edward exchanged worried looks. Edward had managed to shove Bella to the back of his mind, trusting that she'd be safe with Rosalie and that Carlisle would make sure that she'd be properly treated. This was much, much more important that even Bella. Millions of lives were at stake!

"Still no change?" he asked quietly, although he already knew the answer. If the vision changed, he'd see it the moment Alice did. He didn't know what to think of the fact that it remained constant.

Alice shook her head unhappily.

"There's no point in waiting then," Jasper said quietly and got to his feet, taking care to stay in the shadows. It was the middle of the day after all and the clouds didn't provide as much cover as darkness would have. The bio lab was located in the middle of a residential neighbourhood, of all places. Jasper marvelled at such a display of ruthlessness—or idiocy. Murphy usually lurked just around the corner from places like that. He hadn't known about Murphy's Law when he'd still been a major in the Confederate Army—and later Maria's lieutenant—but he'd always made sure to take every eventuality he could come up with in consideration.

_Humans are so stupid._

"I'm inclined to agree," Edward said in response to Jasper's thought. He pulled the black mask over his face and Jasper, Emmett and Alice followed suit. They didn't need to attract any more attention than they already had. Once they were inside, they'd split up. Alice would go with Jasper, Emmett with Edward. As the building was rather small, the others would always be in reach of Edward's gift. He wasn't sure how useful that would be as it was a one-way form of communication, but according to Alice talking to each other would be the least of their problems.

They were already on the premises, but getting into the lab itself would be complicated. Alice wasn't quite sure how the terrorists had done it, for all four entrances were heavily guarded.

"Oh," Edward said suddenly, his voice pitched low enough that not even a high sensitivity mike could have picked up on it. "That explains a lot."

"What?" Jasper asked impatiently. He thought Edward was smiling, but because of the ski mask it was hard to tell.

"The guard at the front gate is in on it. They got visitor passes and just walked in. He's already regretting helping them though."

"It's a little late for that," Jasper muttered. They followed him around the building to where a security guard sat in a small wooden boy, an impressive array of flat screens in front of him. Jasper felt his anxiety, but wasn't particularly sympathetic. _He shouldn't have helped them_, he thought with the cold detachment of a predator whose prey had made a fatal mistake and set off. The guard never saw him coming. He yelped in surprise as he was suddenly yanked out of his box by a seemingly invisible force and Jasper, after having taken out the video camera mounted to the roof of the box with a well-aimed kick, snapped his neck before his surprise could turn into fear. For lack of a better hiding place Jasper simply put the dead man whose head was flopping awkwardly from side to side back into his seat, propping him up so that he'd face the screens. From afar nobody would notice that he was dead.

Getting inside wasn't going to be so difficult after all.


	18. Things Get Weird

**A/N: Update! Thank you guys for the lovely reviews you wrote and also for adding NYNY to your favourites lists! That makes me really happy. A special thank you to KayMarieXW for beta-reading!**

**Disclaimer: The Twilight Saga is property of Stephenie Meyer. I'm only borrowing.**

**Eighteenth Chapter…**

**…where things get weird**

"Is it me," Emmett said, "or is it way too quiet in here?"

"It's nor you," Jasper replied. "I don't hear much either. Edward?"

Edward, who'd been listening for other minds beside the ones of their 'friends' and come up empty, shook his head. "Nothing. We're alone."

"That's weird," Alice muttered, saying what everyone was thinking. Getting inside hadn't been a problem after Jasper had disposed of the security man at the front gate. They'd simply walked in the front door, trashing four security cameras in the process. The lab's control centre had been their first stop as they had to deactivate the cameras in the hallways and the labs themselves—they wouldn't need them to track down the intruders anyway—and they'd found it empty, much to their surprise.

"Well," Emmett said after a while, "it is Saturday."

"That doesn't explain why there's no security personnel," Jasper pointed out. In the beginning he'd simply not been very impressed with how the lab was run and pleased that their operation seemed to be going so smoothly (except for the annoying fact that Alice's vision still hadn't changed), but now he suspected that there was more to it than they had assumed. That worried Jasper because he didn't like surprises—even though there was no such thing as a surprise, as he well knew. A surprise was simply someone's failure to see something that had been there all along. So Jasper had been racking his brain for fifteen minutes now in order to figure out what they'd missed, but he hadn't had a single useful idea. Neither had the others, for that matter.

He scanned the screens for the intruders and found them two levels below their current position, four people clad in black and armed with machine pistols. They were just standing, talking quietly among themselves. Jasper would ask Edward for a summary of their conversation later. Alice had had to revise up her estimate of when the virus would be released four times now, which had confused Jasper at first, for he'd been sure that the terrorists would want to get out of the lab with their dangerous loot as quickly as possible. Now it made sense though, what with the entire complex deserted and all. That made things infinitely more easier for Jasper, Alice, Edward and Emmett as well. Still, Jasper would rather the building was bustling with people. As it was, it was just… weird, exactly like Alice had said.

_I wish I knew what we're missing…_

"What are they talking about?" Jasper asked eventually, hoping that insight into their thoughts proved more helpful than what they'd learned so far—which, to be honest, was next to nothing.

"They're worried," Edward said, "because they haven't heard back from a Timothy Frazier—he's the one who led the bank robbery; the one with the offensive body odour…"

Alice grinned.

"…although he should have contacted him again over thirty minutes ago. They assume that something went wrong, but as far as I can tell they don't think it'll implicate this operation." Edward sounded frustrated, for which Jasper, who was more than just mildly irritated by now, couldn't blame him. He had to concentrate hard to keep his irritation from spilling onto the others.

"Why are they just standing there?" Jasper asked, staring at the screen.

"Your guess is as good as mine," Edward replied with a shrug. "It doesn't sound as if they expect anyone to discover that they're here and raise an alarm." Edward frowned. Then he said, very slowly, "You don't suppose that someone beside that guard knew that they'd be here today and made sure that the lab was empty?"

"This is beginning to sound like a conspiracy," Emmett said before Jasper could reply. His expression was grim, the amusement he'd felt earlier completely gone now.

"Yes," Jasper agreed after a moment, "yes, it does."


	19. The Future Holds Yet More Surprises

**A/N: This story is getting longer than I thought it would, but I keep having ideas I just have to incorporate! I hope I'll manage to finish it this year, though, as I plan to write an entry for The Canon Tour. And there's always Lifelines, of course.**

**Thank you twihardchick29 and sheeiur22 for reviewing; a special thank you to KayMarieXW, who's an amazing beta-reader; and of course thank you all who alerted to NYNY or added it to their favourites. That makes me just as happy as reviews would!**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: The Twilight Saga is property of Stephenie Meyer. I'm only borrowing!**

**Nineteenth Chapter…**

**…where the future hold still more surprises**

"You're kidding!" Alice exclaimed incredulously. Granted, this was beyond weird, but a conspiracy? "I'd have seen that." But to be honest, Alice couldn't say with absolute certainly that she would have. After all she only saw the consequences of someone's decision, never the reasons leading up to the decision. It was quite annoying, but it was a fact that Alice had accepted a long time ago. Of course that didn't mean that she never found herself wishing that this were different.

As she did now.

Emmett shook his head excitedly, clearly very much in love with his theory. "Just think about it! It makes perfect sense. This lab belongs to Global Research, which happens to be a pet project of Senator Greene. And we all know that he intends to run for president… What?" Emmett demanded when three pairs of eyes regarded him as if he had just sprouted a set of curved horns. "If he stops this 'terror' attack and saves millions of lives, the public will love him."

Jasper raised his eyebrows, unconvinced. "Really? I would expect people to ask why these terrorists were able to access the lab and steal the virus in the first place—which won't exactly earn him popularity points."

Edward was frowning thoughtfully. "Emmett has a point," he said after a while. "Yes, he'd probably have to answer these questions eventually, but I'm pretty sure he'll have a credible excuse ready by then. I can already see the headline. _Senator Thwarts Terror Attack. Millions of Lives Saved._" He grimaced. "Besides, our friends down there are beginning to wonder why nobody's here, so I guess it wasn't part of their plan."

Jasper's eyebrows rose even higher, threatening to disappear into his hairline. "They were set up?"

Edward shrugged. "It's possible."

"If that's true, then this place will be crawling with police in a while." Jasper ran his hand through his hair, thinking. Emmett was right. In a way, it did make sense, although Jasper would have never planned something like this, something that left so much room for error, which was probably why the possibility hadn't occurred to him. He wrinkled his nose, disgusted. Really, who'd think of something like that? In Jasper's experience, people who relied on elaborate plans usually failed to achieve their objectives—which really was just a nicer way of saying that they (most of the time anyway) got themselves killed because they got too cute. A bank robbery to create a diversion. A terror attack that wasn't really a terror attack, but a senator's attempt to score popularity points. Jasper thought that there were better, less dangerous, ways to achieve that, but then mankind had always seemed inclined to do its level best to eradicate itself and one really had to wonder that they weren't an endangered species yet. Jasper wasn't surprised in any case at the senator's plan—if Emmett was right, which Jasper would assume for now because it made more sense than anything he'd been able to come up with. But although his surprise was limited, he was still shocked that someone seemed to be willing to risk so much for something that, at least in Jasper's humble opinion, was so very unimportant.

"It's only a theory though," he said eventually, "and as it doesn't affect our plan, it's not our problem. Let's go after them," he jerked his chin at the screen, "and take them out before they figure out that they were set up and do something… rash. And once they're taken care of we should get out of here as quickly as possible. Alice?"

Alice concentrated on the future, hoping she'd see something useful for a change, now that Jasper had decided on a course of action. Images flooded her mind, but she pushed most of them aside without even taking a proper look as they were not, or only very distantly, related to their current predicament. Looking for the future of eight different people wasn't as easy as one would assume, especially not when their futures were entangled. There tended to be a lot of what Alice called 'white noise', visions that were incomplete and thus fuzzy because of decisions that hadn't been made yet. It was quite unfortunate that Alice couldn't simply make those decisions for others. Assumptions, as she had long since discovered, didn't affect her foresight, handy though it would have been.

In her vision the four of them had split up. Alice saw herself with Jasper of course—even after all this time he still hadn't accepted that she was quite capable of looking after herself—and Emmett with Edward…

Alice gasped and heard Edward do the same. Jasper grabbed her shoulder so hard it almost hurt, asking—no, demanding!—what she'd seen, but all Alice could do was gape at her husband, unable to find the right words. Fire. It had only been a vision, yet Alice could feel its heat on her skin. The lab had been ablaze, yellow and orange flames devouring everyone and everything and acrid smoke that was almost pitch black curling lazily up into the rainy sky. Although every fibre of her being shied away from the fire in her vision, the only thing that could destroy her, she forced herself to really look at the images. Firemen were trying desperately to extinguish the flames before they spread, but to Alice it looked like they were losing the battle. The police had already started evacuating the surrounding buildings, their progress hindered by gawking bystanders.

But where was her family?

Alice finally found them on the roof of one of the houses whose residents had already fled in haste, carrying toddlers, pets and all the things they could not part with. Alice saw herself standing in Jasper's embrace as they looked on and Emmett beside them, all of them wearing worried, frightened expressions, which Alice didn't understand. Then she realised what was wrong with the picture and terror coursed through her, causing Jasper to grab her shoulder even harder.

Edward was missing.

**A/N: Do I have to go into hiding now? I promise I'll update as soon as I can. Wouldn't want to leave you hanging like that, now would I? Tell me what you think! **


	20. Rosalie Is Tempted To Kill Someone

**A/N: As I already told some of you while answering their reviews, the story is officially finished. There will be thirteen more chapters, including this one. The story progresses from crazy to crazier and logic disappeared out the window somewhere around chapter 22 or so, but I hope you'll enjoy it nonetheless. I wrote this story with the intention to write something completely different, something very and somewhat ironic. Sometimes there is no place for logic in that. ;-)**

**As really, really massive thanks to my beta KayMarieXW, who has a lot going on at the moment and still found time to beta. Another thank you to my reviewers DutchGirl01, sheeiur22 and twihardchick29! Glad you like it! Also thank you to those who alerted to NYNY, put it on their favourites lists or put me on their favourite authors lists. Just so you know it, I consider the last a huge honour!**

**I'm going to update every two to three days from now on (if I remember to that is; I'm afraid I'm suffering from an acute case of selective memory at the moment). Looking forward to hear what you think!**

**Disclaimer: The Twilight Saga is property of Stephenie Meyer. I'm only borrowing.**

**Twentieth Chapter…**

**…where Rosalie is tempted to kill someone**

"Shouldn't we have heard something by now?" Bella asked, perfectly aware that Rosalie's patience, never in great supply, was slipping away. But she couldn't help herself. Edward and the others had left almost forty-five minutes ago and, knowing what they were capable of, Bella had difficulty imagining what was taking them so long.

"They'll call when they can," Rosalie replied curtly. It came out as a hiss, really, but Bella didn't seem to notice or, if she did, was choosing to ignore it. Rosalie made herself take a deep breath, ignoring the deep crease on Bella's forehead that told her she wouldn't let it go, and focused on the bustle of the ER. Rosalie, like Edward, held a medical degree, but she'd never practiced because she didn't trust her self-control around bleeding humans. Rosalie was the only one who'd never even tasted human blood and she intended to keep it that way.

Which was why she wasn't with Bella when the nurse tasked with putting on the cast finally showed up. A man had come in only minutes before, his left lower leg gone and his right terribly mangled. Apparently, he'd slipped while he'd been trying—rather stupidly as Bella thought—to compact wood into a wood chipper with his feet. From the incoherent, panicky rambling of the man's brother-in-law Bella deduced that it had been his idea

"I don't want a cast," Bella told the nurse, an elderly woman with a no-nonsense air about her. "At least not until my father-in-law has taken a look at the x-rays. I'm sorry you had to come down here for nothing." She didn't think it was a very good idea to mention the fact that the attending had made a mistake. That kind of thing never sat well with devoted employees.

Rosalie, forced to wait outside in the hallway, smiled slightly. Bella wasn't exactly what you'd call meek, but her self-confidence was definitely limited.

"Oh, nonsense," the nurse said curtly as she put down her equipment. "It's a clean break. You'll be fine."

Bella yanked her arm out of the way as the nurse reached for it, cradling it against her chest. Pain shot up into her shoulder, but she forced herself to ignore it. She'd had worse. "My husband," Bella wasn't sure why she elevated Edward's current status (probably because it sounded a lot more impressive than 'boyfriend'), "thought he saw a bone fragment on the x-ray and I'd like to be sure that he was just imagining things." There, that sounded much better than accusing the attending of incompetence.

The nurse's grey eyes narrowed. She obviously didn't even like the implication that the doctor might have missed something.

"I don't mean to be disrespectful," Bella continued, silently cursing the heat spreading across her cheeks. At least her voice didn't waver. "I don't mean to be disrespectful," she repeated, "but I'd rather you wait until my father-in-law is here."

The nurse ground her teeth together, then opened her mouth to protest and Bella said the only thing she thought would stop her from yelling at her. "If you put on the cast," she said, doing her best imitation of Rosalie, "I'll sue the hospital!"

The nurse clamped her lips together, swallowing whatever she'd meant to say. "Fine," she snapped eventually as she grabbed her equipment. "I'll have a word with Dr Walters, Ms Swan."

She stalked away, muttering something about ungrateful patients and spoiled teenagers as she rushed past Rosalie, who was grinning broadly.

"Nice," she said fifteen minutes later when the man had been ferried off to the OR. "I didn't think you had it in you."

"I didn't think I had, either," Bella admitted, deciding to take Rosalie's words as praise instead of an insult. "I don't think that was the end of it, though."

It wasn't. Bella wondered why the doctor had come in person and not sent someone else because certainly she had better things to do. Perhaps she wasn't used to patients talking back. Bella had met her share of doctors over the years. In fact, in the last seventeen years she'd probably seen more ERs from the inside than other people did in a lifetime, so she had a lot of experience with doctors many of whom were self-proclaimed gods in white. It was the patronising and condescending kind she despised, the kind that insisted on treating her like a child that didn't know anything, not even entertaining the notion that she could be right.

Rosalie wasn't exactly impressed with the doctor's bedside manner either. She stepped closer to the bed, placing her hand on Bella's shoulder (she ignored the bemused look Bella shot her), and while the doctor had almost two inches on her, she stepped back.

But not much.

"I've been told you're refusing treatment," the doctor said icily, in a tone that clearly questioned Bella's sanity.

_Please_, Rosalie thought, disgusted, _it's not like Bella will _die_ of a broken arm. Leaving aside that bone fragment, the worst thing that can possibly happen is that the bone will mend wrong._

Rosalie snatched the x-ray off the wall in a motion a little too fluid and held it under the woman's beaky nose. The doctor looked at it as if it was a specimen of some particularly disgusting-looking kind of insect. "She's refusing treatment," Rosalie said, her pleasant smile belying the menace in her voice, "because you failed to discover that the joint fractured." She jabbed her finger at the tiny white spot on the x-ray that was the bone fragment. "As we didn't get any of the other doctors to offer a second opinion, we called in my father. She needs to be operated on and if you cared about your patients instead of the money you want to save the hospital, then she'd already be in an OR."

The last part was only a guess, but the look on the doctor's face told Rosalie that she'd hit home. These days it was always about money.

"I don't see a bone fragment," the doctor said between clenched teeth, even though she couldn't keep herself from staring directly at it. She was clearly about to lose her temper, having realised that she had, indeed, made a mistake. She seemed disinclined to admit it, though. "But if you want to wait for that doctor of yours, you can wait in the hallway. We need the bed."

Rosalie had a pretty good idea what Edward would do when he learned that Bella had waited for Carlisle to arrive in an uncomfortable plastic chair. He wouldn't just sue the hospital, he'd destroy the doctor's reputation. He was quite capable of that and more and Rosalie found herself in complete agreement. Still, Edward would certainly blame her for not having stopped the doctor from throwing Bella out of the ER and Rosalie really didn't want to find herself on the receiving end of Edward's temper. Not because she couldn't handle it, but because furniture tended to be destroyed in the process.

And Esme was very fond of every single piece of furniture they owned.

"I want you gone in fifteen minutes," she doctor snapped, turned and around and stomped off, stopping at the door to tell the security guard that he was to escort the two of them out of here if they refused to leave.

Rosalie growled. Who did this woman think she was?

"What now?" Bella asked.

"I'm calling Carlisle," Rosalie replied. "I'm not sure he'll be able to help, but he knows more people in high places than you'd think."


	21. Decisions Have To Be Made

**A/N: So much for updating every two to three days. Sorry, guys, I forgot. I swear I'd forget my head if it wasn't screwed on. Here's the next chapter. Thank you twihardchick29, Aromene and sheeiur22. Writing this chapter was so much fun and I'm glad you enjoyed it! A special thank you to my beta KayMarieXW, who did a brilliant job as always. Also, I'm grateful to everyone who added NYNY to their favourite lists. That makes me just as happy as reviews do!**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: The Twilight Saga is property of Stephenie Meyer. I'm only borrowing.**

**Twenty-first Chapter…**

**…where decisions have to be made**

Alice felt Edward's eyes on her and knew he was trying to make sense of what he saw, but she couldn't even make sense of it herself. He wasn't there. She looked again, more closely this time, going over every decision she'd made so far to see if a different decision would—_please, please_—change the outcome, but it didn't. Alice forced herself to draw a deep breath and willed her lips into a smile even as she felt a wave of calm lap gently against her. Jasper. She leaned into his embrace, refusing to let go of the vision just yet. She closed her eyes to shut the others out.

Why wasn't Edward there?

The future was so frustrating sometimes!

"Stop it," Edward said gently, his voice shattering the vision and drawing her back into the present. He was smiling, even if his smile was strained. Alice had never wanted to be a mind reader—the visions were quite enough, thank you very much—but right now she wished she knew what was going on in her brother's head. Edward had seen what she'd seen, of course, and he knew that she'd tried to spot him, spot his future—_any_ future—and failed. Alice knew that he must be aware of the implications, just as she was.

She opened her eyes and found that Edward's gaze held no reproach. He didn't blame the messenger for the message because he knew that the future wasn't set in stone. It changed with every decision. How many of her visions had come true, really? She'd seen Edward kill Bella, yet she was still very much alive.

Her vision, the vision in which Edward had to be dead because Alice had failed to see his future, might never come true after all.

But… She wanted to chase the ugly thought away, but the predatory part of her, the one that insisted on analysing every scrap of data it received, stopped her. Her visions hadn't been working properly all day. There was no knowing if the normal rules still applied.

If they did, then why didn't the future change? It always did, _always_. Yet her original vision, the one that had the terrorists release the virus, remained rock solid.

"Would someone," Jasper suddenly said, his voice sharp, "please explain what the hell is going on?"

Alice and Edward staring at each other the way they did was rather unsettling, and Jasper didn't care at all for the emotions emanating off of both of them.

"The laboratory was on fire," Alice said after giving herself a little shake. "We were watching the firemen from one of the rooftops."

"And?" Emmett asked impatiently. He wanted this to get over with and while he realised that a certain amount of planning was necessary, he wished they'd get a move on. They could hardly stay here forever and wait for Alice's visions to become useful again, now could they?

"I didn't see Edward," Alice said miserably. "I… I don't know why." That wasn't what she'd intended to say, but she shied away from saying the words out loud because she was afraid it would make her vision more… real.

"Alice," Edward said, managing to sound pained and chiding at the same time. "She didn't see me because in her vision I appeared to be dead."

"What?" Emmett demanded. "Why?"

"If I knew that, I wouldn't be worried so much," Alice hissed, her patience—along with her temper—snapping like a brittle twig. Emmett raised an eyebrow at this unexpected outburst, but something that he saw in Alice's face make him step back. "Because then," Alice continued acidly, lips pulled back over her teeth in a snarl, "I'd also know how to stop it from happening!"

Jasper tried to calm her, but gave up when he felt Alice's refusal to be calmed. As he didn't want to be on the receiving end of her fury right now, he gave in. He didn't allow himself to be worried because he knew it would get him nowhere.

"Look," he said, unable to resist rubbing his hands up and down Alice's arms although he was well aware that he was risking getting snapped, or swiped, at, "we can't change it, so let's just focus on the things we _can_ influence, okay?"

Alice growled under her breath, followed by a string of words Jasper was glad he didn't quite catch, then her shoulders slumped and she sagged against him, slowly massaging her temples as if to chase away a headache. Jasper pressed a soft kiss on the crown of her head, which caused Emmett to turn away and pretend to stare at the screens and Edward to smile slightly. Alice and Jasper, like Esme and Carlisle, weren't usually openly affectionate, even among family. "Whatever happens," he whispered, "I'll be with you all the way. I always will. You know that, right?"

Alice turned around in his embrace to wrap her arms around him and Jasper surprised Alice by lifting her up so that he could kiss her properly. She couldn't read his mind the way Edward could, but she always knew what he was thinking. He would support her unconditionally whatever she decided to do in the end.

"I know," she whispered back, allowing herself to taste his lips and feel the subtle warmth of his skin against hers for a second longer before she twisted out of his arms. They had a job to do. And Jasper was right.

It seemed she couldn't change the future, not this time, so she'd better heed Jasper's advice and focus on the things she could change. Alice would do everything in her power to keep the vision from coming true.

If it was the last thing she ever did.

**A/N: What do you think? Please review, even if it's just a few words. I love them all!**


	22. Things Take An Unexpected Turn… Again

**A/N: The reviews were brilliant! Thank you so much. NYNY is now on over thirty favourites lists! That's not bad, not bad at all. A very special thank you to my beta KayMarieXW.**

**Enjoy the update. I plan to post another chapter this week, so please remind me in case I forget!**

**Disclaimer: The Twilight Saga is property of Stephenie Meyer. I'm only borrowing.**

* * *

><p><strong>Twenty-second Chapter…<strong>

**…where things take an unexpected turn**

They had paired off, though not as they'd originally planned. Jasper was with Edward to make certain nothing untoward happened to him while Alice had gone with Emmett. Jasper would have preferred to be with Alice, but if baby-sitting Edward was what it took to keep Alice from worrying, he'd do that and more.

Edward and Jasper were sneaking up on the terrorists, who still stood in the middle of the hallway, arguing about how to proceed. They were getting increasingly nervous as they had realised that something else was going on and they still hadn't decided what to do.

Edward and Jasper stopped just around the corner, their prey completely oblivious to their presence. Jasper, lacking Edward's insight into their minds, peeked around the corner to get a better look. "Let's just pick them off," he suggested quietly. "I'm sure we'll come up with something to implicate this senator with illusions of grandeur later."

Edward shook his head, frowning. Right now he couldn't care less about framing the senator. Something that he saw in their minds was making him uneasy, but he couldn't put his finger on it as it was nothing distinct. Just an undercurrent he wasn't quite sure how to interpret.

Alice and Emmett were a floor below, planning to secure the lab with the deadly virus. Alice was still busy searching for a different future, even as they locked themselves inside the lab in case the terrorists managed to get past Jasper and Edward. It was rather unlikely, but there was no harm in covering all your bases.

Especially not when millions of lives were at stake.

The terrorists seemed to have reached a decision. They started to move down the corridor, not bothering to be stealthy; they'd long since realised that the building had been abandoned prior to their break-in.

Jasper shot a quizzical glance Edward's way and the expression he saw on his brother's face made his insides clench. For a moment he was back on the battlefield and had just realised that he'd led his men, and later the vampires in his command, into a trap he'd failed to see. It had only happened once or twice, but Jasper would never forget the feeling of a chunk of ice rolling around in his stomach. It was a feeling he was used to in many ways, but one he rarely allowed himself to have—fear.

He felt the first tingling of cold fear now, his neck prickling with it. He suddenly knew with absolute certainty that he'd missed something vital, something that he should have thought of but hadn't, and now they'd have to pay the price for it. It wasn't simply the alarmed expression on Edward's face. The terrorists' emotions had shifted subtly, had gone from confused to determined to… excited? Jasper made himself focus harder because they were almost out of his reach. No, not excited. That wasn't quite the right word. Exhilaration. The way people tended to feel when they'd accomplished something great, something they'd worked for very hard but have never expected to succeed in.

But they hadn't accomplished anything. They'd only been inside ten minutes before Jasper and the others had followed them and that wasn't nearly enough time to get onto the sub-level that held the labs and cooling units and into the lab itself.

Was it?

"Edward?" Jasper urged.

"They're not going to the lab," Edward said eventually, turning to face Jasper. He was confused. "They're leaving. But one of them… he was thinking something weird."

That report left a lot to be desired, in Jasper's professional opinion, but he let it slide. Edward, seeing the thought fleetingly cross his brother's mind, arched his eyebrows, but chose to ignore it. Right now there were more important things.

On the floor below, Alice cursed the complicated lock on the sixteen-inch thick metal door that secured the lab. In the end she simply broke it, which made Emmett howl with laughter despite the seriousness of the situation. The door swung open very slowly. Alice grabbed it to help it along and promptly popped it out of its massive hinges. She shot Emmett a glare that dared him to comment on it and darted outside into the corridor, heading for the stairs.

The visions hadn't changed, so Alice wasn't really sure why she suddenly knew that they were in the wrong place at the wrong time, but she did. _We're going to cut them off_, she told Edward. The entire building was practically laced with steel plating, which made it difficult to get in, but also made communicating difficult, even for vampires. Edward and Jasper would hear her just fine if she shouted at the top of her lungs, but so would the terrorists. Probably.

"What's going on?" Emmett demanded as he came barrelling after her. He was pretending to be out of breath and panting dramatically.

"They intend to leave, I think," she said, resisting the temptation to thump Emmett over the head like Rosalie was so fond of doing. "We can't let them."

"Please, we're vampires," Emmett huffed. "It isn't as if they can run away from us."

Alice was about to reply when yet another vision came crashing into her mind and had her stop dead in her tracks.


	23. Rosalie Doesn't Get A Break

**A/N: So much for remembering to upload another chapter last week! Here it is, at last. Thanks to Chrystal06921, twihardchick29, natashar and sheeiur22 for reviewing and of course also to everyone who alerted to NYNY. As always, a very special thank you to my amazing beta KayMarieXW, who found the time to beta despite still having so much to prepare for Christmas.**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: The Twilight Saga is property of Stephenie Meyer. I'm only borrowing.**

**Twenty-third Chapter…**

**…where Rosalie doesn't get a break**

Rosalie was fuming.

The security guard had escorted her and Bella to the waiting area and while he'd been properly intimidated by the look Rosalie had bestowed upon him when he'd come to tell them to leave, he'd followed his orders to the letter. Bella had curled herself up in one of the orange chairs that was just as uncomfortable as it looked, cradling her arm against her chest. It was hurting again. In fact, Bella wasn't feeling very well at all. She was tired, and while Rosalie had graciously offered her shoulder as a pillow, sleep wouldn't come. The voices of the people around her and the crying of the children kept jolting her awake whenever she'd just managed to doze off. In the end she gave up and focused on the dull throbbing in her arm and the sharp, piercing pain in her head. She wondered what Edward was doing right now. Were they already on their way back? Bella hoped so. She missed him and she wanted him here. Maybe he could convince the doctor to let her go back to bed. Even if it was just an uncomfortable, narrow hospital bed.

She really wasn't feeling well at all…

Rosalie's fantasy of murdering both the doctor and the security guard and then dumping their bodies somewhere they'd never be found was suddenly interrupted when Bella's heart skipped a beat. At first she thought she'd imagined it. There were a lot of people sitting in the waiting area, many of them old enough to have heart problems. But Rosalie, like every member of her family, was so attuned to the sound of Bella's heartbeat that she could have picked it out anywhere. She looked down at Bella, who had finally gone to sleep, and listened… And there it was again. The steady _thu-thud thu-thud thu-thud _first turned into an erratic _thud tha-thud thud_ before it ceased completely.

Rosalie didn't know what had happened—although she had a fairly good idea—but she knew what do to. She refused to allow the panic seeping into her mind to take over her actions and brushed her murderous thoughts of hospital staff aside. Bella would _not _die on her watch. Edward would kill her a hundred times over! She eased Bella into her arms and lowered her onto the floor to perform CPR.

A passing nurse dropped to the floor beside Rosalie. "What happened?" she demanded.

"She's gone into cardiac arrest," Rosalie replied, her tone clipped, as she willed Bella's heart to start beating again. She added, rather menacingly, "Your stupid attending ignored a bone fragment in her elbow. I'm pretty sure it's got into her bloodstream and is either obstructing an artery somewhere or has gone directly to her heart."

The nurse didn't flinch at Rosalie's tone. Instead, she got up and called for help and only seconds later a crash team appeared. Rosalie was pushed aside. She stood back willingly, allowing them to lift Bella onto a gurney and rush her off. Rosalie followed, snarling at the nurse when she wanted to stop her from entering the room Bella was pushed into. The nurse swallowed and backed away from Rosalie, sensing that she'd better not cross her.

Rosalie watched as they tried to resuscitate Bella, her hands clenched. She didn't want Bella to die. Not just because Edward would blame her, but because of what he'd done the last time he'd thought she was dead. Family was more important to Rosalie than anything else and she would do everything in her power to save Bella because she didn't want to lose her brother.

Even if that meant…

The monitor Bella had been hooked up to beeped. Rosalie's eyes flew to the screen. It beeped again, then the annoyingly straight line finally changed into the waves of a steady, normal sinus rhythm. Rosalie breathed a sigh of relief, as did everyone else.

Bella's eyes fluttered open as if on cue, staring dazedly at the grainy ceiling above her for a moment before her gaze became focused. "What happened?" she rasped.

"Nothing, sweetie," the nurse said, smiling. "Everything's fine now. You're very lucky that your friend," she shot a quick glance over her shoulder at Rosalie, "started doing CPR right away."

"Edward was right?" Bella whispered.

"Yes," Rosalie replied, cutting off the nurse's next words, "he was, unfortunately." She stepped to Bella's side and smiled down at her reassuringly although she didn't feel very confident at all. "But they know now and will take care of you." She didn't add what a monumental task it was, finding a sliver of bone barely one and a half millimetres in diameter. She also didn't add that worst might come to worst before Carlisle—or Edward—showed up.

But, by the look on Bella's face, she'd figured all of that out by herself.

**What do you think? Please, please, please review!**


	24. The Truth Is Revealed… Finally

**A/N: It was pointed out to me that this chapter isn't very plausible, at least in parts. I'm aware of that, but as logic wasn't very much involved while writing this story anyway, I hope you won't mind. Thanks to my regular reviewers and to those who reviewed for the first time! I loved every single review. As always, a special thank you to my amazing beta KayMarieXW!**

**Enjoy!**

**I wish all of you a fantastic Christmas!**

**Disclaimer: The Twilight Saga is property of Stephenie Meyer. I'm only borrowing.**

**Twenty-fourth Chapter…**

**…where the truth is revealed**

"You okay?" Emmett asked when Alice suddenly froze. "Did you see something?"

"No," Alice said quickly after she'd given herself a quick shake and shooed the vision away before Edward could see it. "Nothing important. Just a stock market trend."

"Must be some trend," Emmett remarked in a tone that clearly said he didn't believe Alice's words for a second. He knew her too well, and that was also why he didn't push it. Well, that wasn't exactly right. Alice rarely kept her visions to herself. In fact, she'd taken to doing that just around the same time Edward had met Bella. She didn't share everything she saw anymore because—or so Emmett suspected—she didn't trust them to keep their thoughts hidden around Edward. She'd mastered the art of keeping Edward in the dark to perfection. Emmett was honest enough to admit that he hadn't. Most of what popped into his mind ended up on his tongue anyway. He just couldn't help it. That didn't mean that he was incapable of keeping secrets. He was just incapable of keeping secrets from Edward.

Whatever the vision Alice had obviously had had been about, it was clear to Emmett that Bella had played a central role in it. And that was why he didn't ask.

Alice led the way as they dashed up the stairs. They would have them in a few seconds. As Emmett had said, they couldn't run away from a vampire. No human could. Edward and Jasper were closing in from the other direction. _This is taking too long_, Alice thought, aware that Edward could hear her. _We should have killed them already. But…_ But something told her that that wasn't such a good idea. Call it a notion. She hoped Edward had seen something useful in their minds, but if he had, that would have changed her vision of the future, wouldn't it?

_Can't rely on that today_, Alice told herself firmly, pushing open the door that led from the staircase into the dimly-lit corridor. She could hear them now, heard their strained breathing as they hurried down the hallway, the heavy pounding of their hearts.

Emmett ran almost into her when she suddenly stopped. "What now?" he growled.

"They were never in the lab," Alice replied horrified, not bothering to lower her voice. The sound of people coming their way suddenly ceased. "But they already have a sample of the virus. I don't know how… I didn't see it. Oh, for crying out loud, of all the days my visions could have chosen to not work properly," she hissed suddenly. "I must have missed something."

Sixty metres away Edward said the very same words to Jasper. The only difference was that he knew what they'd missed now. He hadn't known before because the designated leader of the group of terrorists that had broken into the lab had not permitted himself to think about it, afraid it would affect his performance. But he did now because they were on the ground level and only a few yards away from the door that would lead them outside, and only another hundred metres away from an apartment block full of people.

"Emmett was right," he explained hurriedly, pulling Jasper to a stop. "Partially anyway. The senator wanted them to get caught so that he could be the hero. Unfortunately, they never intended to just blackmail the US government."

"I don't understand," Jasper said.

"Me neither," Emmett added, now in earshot.

The terrorists had crowded together in the middle of the hallway, aware now that they were no longer alone, and thoroughly confused. Except for their leader.

"They broke in with the intention to steal the virus and release it," Edward said, his voice flat. "They must have had someone who works in the lab in on the plan as well because a syringe containing the virus was left in a bathroom. Their leader suspected the senator might try to cross them and made sure he'd succeed anyway. He infected himself with the virus. It seems to have a very short incubation period, but it's long enough that he won't start showing symptoms until he's in custody."

"What about the others?" Jasper asked grimly.

"The virus is airborne. My guess is they are already infected. They'll get sick and die within hours of another, but not without having infected hundreds of others first. Who, in turn…"

"…will have infected hundreds of other people," Emmett finished for him. "That's not good."

"That's an understatement, if I ever heard one," Alice muttered.

"We can't allow them to leave the lab," Edward said finally. "And we can't just kill them and leave them here to be found. Besides, the entire building is probably contaminated by now."

"Well," Emmett replied, running his hand through his hair, at a loss, "how do you kill a virus?"

"The same way you kill a vampire," Alice and Edward replied almost in unison as they both had suddenly realised that Alice's vision would come true after all, at least partially. "You burn it."

**Did you like it? Please review if you did and also if you didn't!**


	25. Time Won't Pass

**A/N: You all are amazing! 76 reviews already. That's more than I expected. Thank you so much twihardchick29, sheeiur22 and pmbs1992. As always, a very special thank you to my beta KayMarieXW for doing a wonderful job. There are still a few more chapters to come. I don't think I'll be able to post them all before 2012, but I'll do my best!**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: The Twilight Saga is property of Stephenie Meyer. I'm only borrowing.**

**Twenty-fifth Chapter…**

**…where time won't pass**

Carlisle was worried. He hadn't heard from Edward, but he'd heard from Rosalie. Twice. The first call had been to ask him if he knew anyone in New York, who could throw the doctor who wanted to kick Bella out of the ER off her high horse. Unfortunately, Carlisle had never worked at the hospital his children had taken Bella to and his contacts in the area were, for a city as big as New York, sadly limited. He knew of a small private hospital the director of which owed him—or rather, as he thought, Carlisle's 'father'—a favour. Carlisle had been about to call Rosalie back to tell her that she could take Bella there when her call had intercepted his, this time to tell him that Bella had flatlined. Apparently she was fine now—as fine as one who'd been dead for over a minute could possibly be—but that was bound to change.

Carlisle hadn't wanted to tell Esme any of that, but she'd overheard every word of what Rosalie had said, of course. She was sitting rigidly in her seat now, staring out the window at the ground that came closer with every passing second and not talking to him. She was lost in thought, worrying. They still had two hours of running ahead of them and there was no telling what would await them in New York. Two hours was a very long time. He wasn't especially worried about his children. They knew how to take care of themselves. Besides, how much trouble could they possibly get in? But Bella… On some level he'd been worrying about her constantly ever since Edward brought her home. Carlisle had been a doctor for so many years, but sometimes he couldn't help but wonder how the human race had survived this long. They were so fragile, so easily destroyed. He'd never had to worry about that with his other children and was glad that the date for Bella's transformation was set now, for after the honeymoon.

Carlisle smiled despite himself. He'd wondered, of course, why Edward had asked him to 'borrow' the island he'd given Esme a very long time ago, given that he and Bella couldn't have a real honeymoon. Now it made much more sense, though. _I guess I'll have to talk to her about it_, he thought. _She doesn't know how dangerous it is._

If she didn't die in the next few hours.

The smile faded instantly. Carlisle hadn't expected things to proceed to quickly. Yes, Edward was right, there was always a chance that a detached bone fragment worked its way into the bloodstream and travelled to any place in the body. But it was a very slim chance. Emmett called Bella a danger magnet and he was right. She was.

"This wasn't supposed to happen," Esme said suddenly.

"When does anything ever happen the way it was supposed to?" Carlisle asked, glad she was speaking to him again. Her silence always made him uneasy.

"That's not the point." Esme's eyes were on her hands in her lap. "If they hadn't gone to New York…"

Carlisle never interrupted Esme. He always cared about what she had to say, but this time was different. They'd been over this before. Alice's decision to go to New York would save millions of life. Yes, he wished Bella hadn't got hurt, but… But a broken bone was nothing compared to so many lives being wiped out.

"It was good that they did," he said firmly. "It will be okay."

"I hope you're right," Esme whispered. "I really do."

**What do you think? Please review!**


	26. Rosalie Is Afraid

**A/N: Can't believe 2011 is almost over. This will be the last chapter for this year. I hope you enjoy it. Thank you so much for reviewing, guys. It means a lot to me that you like NYNY so much. A very special thank you to KayMarieXW for beta-ing. I'm so glad we got in touch.**

**I wish you all a very happy 2012!**

**Disclaimer: The Twilight Saga is property of Stephenie Meyer. I'm only borrowing.**

**Twenty-sixth Chapter…**

**…where Rosalie is afraid**

The doctor, when she finally came, was suitably embarrassed and tried to brush Rosalie's angry words off with the erring was human excuse. Rosalie, however, was sick and tired of the woman's behaviour and made so clear, with a few pointed, well-chosen words—and by flashing her a predatory smile. She had the satisfaction of seeing the doctor grow whiter than her lab coat before she quickly ducked into the room where Bella had been brought to after she'd been revived.

At least she had a bed now.

The thought wasn't particularly comforting for Rosalie as she followed the doctor inside. Two more hours before Carlisle would be here and she hadn't heard from the others. She'd told Bella not to worry and tried to heed her own advice, but it was hard. They should have been back by now. That didn't necessarily have to mean that they were in trouble. It just meant that things weren't going according to plan. And now Bella had almost died, which didn't help.

Rosalie wasn't easily scared, not after which she'd had to endure in the last hours of her human life. But she was also used to being in control—and, as a vampire, there were only very few things she had no influence over—and this time she clearly wasn't. She couldn't keep Bella's heart beating with the force of her will alone. Rosalie felt that she had to make a choice, a choice that was never supposed to be hers. Besides, she wasn't at all sure that she could do it.

That she had enough self-control not to kill Bella when she changed her.

_Oh God, I don't even want to _think_ about that!_ Rosalie thought miserably as she positioned herself behind the doctor, who clearly didn't like her so close (she was sweating), which was exactly why Rosalie had opted to stand there. _I didn't dare to change Emmett myself. _If she accidentally killed Bella… Well, what Edward would do to her then hardly bore thinking on. Rosalie didn't _want_ to do it, not just because she seriously doubted that she could, but also because she still didn't want Bella to have that kind of unchanging life that she'd been condemned to. Bella seemed to have made up her mind, but she didn't know what she'd miss out on. Rosalie did know that and she'd do everything, even give up Emmett, if she could be human again.

Then again, it was hardly fair to force Bella into a life she clearly didn't want to have. Rosalie understood that, at least on some level. But giving up the chance of being a mother… Of growing old and having grandchildren and great-grandchildren… That, Rosalie didn't understand. Yes, there were plenty of woman who chose not to have children. But that was different.

Or was it?

Rosalie didn't condemn human women who didn't want to have children; she just didn't understand. Why was it to different with Bella? Because she had a choice where Rosalie had had none? Was that it? Was she simply jealous? Rosalie was aware that the others thought her superficial and she was honest enough to admit that they were right, at least partially. But she didn't want to make a decision based on so petty a feeling. She was still convinced that Bella was choosing wrong, but family always supported your choices unconditionally. Yes, they told you what they thought about it, often gave unsolicited advice, but in the end they were always on your side.

Rosalie hadn't followed the rather one-sided conversation the doctor was having with Bella, who looked increasingly pale, and was taken by surprised when a nurse released the brakes on Bella's bed and started to wheel her out of the room, the doctor trailing along in their wake.

"Where are you taking here?" Rosalie asked sharply.

"We need to do an MRI," the doctor replied, her voice breaking on the last word so that it came out as an undignified squeal. Rosalie managed not to smile, but only just. She tended to have that effect on people if she set her mind to it. "See if we can find the bone fragment and find out what it's damaged so far. You can't come along," she added quickly. It sounded half-hearted to Rosalie and it probably was because when Rosalie gave the doctor a long, pointed look, she immediately gave her consent.

**Did you like it? Review? Pretty, pretty please!**


	27. Everything Is About To Go Up In Flames

**A/N: **I hope it's not too late to wish you all a **Happy New Year**! Hope you all had a fantastic New Year's Eve. Any New Year's resolutions? I want to spend less money on books and don't procrastinate anymore… or at least not as much as I do now. Famous last words… I'd also like to lose some weight. We'll see how that works out.

Thank you so much **twihardchick29**, **sheeiur22**, **Aromene**, **Queen Cupcake**, **LaffertyGirl85**, **pmbs1992** for reviewing! As always a very special thank you to my beta **KayMarieXW** for doing a wonderful job and for her never-ending support!

Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **The Twilight Saga is property of Stephenie Meyer. I'm only borrowing.

**Twenty-seventh Chapter…**

**…where everything is about to go up in flames**

The end was rather anticlimactic.

The terrorists were dead within seconds, without knowing what hit them. Unfortunately, their deaths didn't solve the predicament Edward, Alice, Jasper and Emmett were now in. Originally, they'd intended to lock them up, then call the police and let them handle it. That had ceased to be an option the second it became clear they all carried the virus. The question now was what to do with the bodies. They had to be burned, along with the building, but setting it on fire—and making sure it burned to the ground before the fireman managed to extinguish the fire—wasn't going to be easy. Besides, all four of them had been exposed to the virus. It couldn't harm them—their venom would destroy it the second it entered their bodies—but it made them dangerous to be around. Anything that left the building had to be decontaminated first. There was a decontamination area. However, it was located just outside the labs on the first sub-level, meaning they were absolutely useless now, as the entire building was now contaminated and nobody could go in and out safely.

The designer of the building had most certainly _not_ been a genius.

"Can we, I don't know, move the stuff up here?" Emmett asked, looking down at the pile of bodies with an expression of extreme distaste. How could so few humans cause that much trouble? They were an annoyance, that's what they were! "I thought we passed through an airlock on the way in."

Jasper ran his hand through his hair, thinking rapidly. Hazmat accidents weren't exactly his area of expertise. "Yes, we could if we had enough time," he said eventually, very, very slowly. "I don't know a thing about engineering, though." The one member of their family who did was babysitting Bella.

"Let's call her then," Edward said, holding out his hand for Emmett's cell phone. He wanted to check up on Bella anyway, make sure she was okay.

"After what you did to Jasper's phone?" Emmett exclaimed indignantly. "I think not." He plucked it out of his pocket and, ignoring the ugly look Edward shot him, handed it to Jasper.

Jasper dialled. Rosalie didn't pick up immediately and when she did, she sounded out of breath. Distracted.

_Luckily, he can't read her mind over the phone_, Alice thought absently. Edward's eyes immediately settled on her, narrowed suspiciously. _Oops…_

"What is it?" he asked warily, and while Alice didn't miss the menacing edge in his voice, she just shrugged and said, "Nothing serious. Just a minor complication I won't go into now because we have work to do." She gave him a pointed look and turned around, not really expecting that he'd let the matter go, but, to her surprise, he did.

"Rosalie can talk us through it," Jasper said after a moment, "but it'll take some time…"

As if on cue, sirens started howling in the distance.

"…which, I think, we've just run out of," Jasper finished, with a resigned sigh. "Still, we'll give it a try. We don't really have a choice, anyway." He deliberated for a moment while Rosalie assured Edward that Bella was alright—leaving out the tiny matter of her heart having stopped—and then Jasper started issuing orders. "Emmett, Alice, hack into the computer system and find out if this complex can be put on lockdown. It's imperative that nobody enters. Edward, you're with me. Once we've moved the equipment, we'll set the building on fire."

"That's going to be difficult," Alice pointed out even though the others already knew that. "What with the steel plating and all. One of us," she swallowed as she looked at Edward, "will have to stay behind, make sure it works. Also, we need to disable the smoke detectors," she pointed at the ceiling.

"That's your responsibility," Jasper said curtly. "As for staying behind, I will. I promise I'll get out in time."

"You will not!" Alice exclaimed immediately. She could already guess why Edward would offer. She didn't like his reasoning, especially not in light of what was happening at the hospital, but she wasn't going to bring that up now. "I know what you're going to say," she said preemptively to Edward before her brother could even open his mouth. "And you're an idiot!"

"It makes sense," Edward replied defensively.

"It doesn't, actually," Alice snapped. "Just think of Bella for a moment. And don't give me that crap that it'll be better for her, that she'll get over you and all that because it worked out _so_ well the last time." Her voice was dripping with sarcasm. Jasper groaned and buried his head in his hands as he, too, guessed what Edward intended to do. Emmett just rolled his eyes.

"I'm not saying it won't hurt her," Edward said, his voice quiet, which wasn't what Alice had expected. "But it will hurt you more if you lose Jasper. Or if Rosalie loses you," he added, looking at Emmett. "Bella is still human. Yes, she is going to mourn me for the rest of her life, but not for eternity. I know that sounds callous and I promised I'd never leave her, but I can't let you sacrifice yourselves."

"You're an idiot," Alice repeated.

"I promise I'll be careful and chances are good I'll make it out. I can outrun a fire, you know." He rolled his eyes to emphasise the last sentence. "Besides, I'm warned now and I'll be careful. I'll get out in time."

_Not if you're stuck in that airlock_, Alice thought, which was exactly what Edward was thinking as well. But she didn't say it out loud. Maybe it was selfish. No, there was no 'maybe' about it. It _was_ selfish and she felt horrible because of what it would do to Bella if Edward died, but even the thought of losing Jasper was enough to make her feel physically ill. She wouldn't be able to live without him and if that made her a cold, selfish bitch, then so be it.

Even if it meant losing a sister.

**A/N: Review, review, review! Pretty, pretty please! I'd love to hear what you think. Also, there are only six more chapters to go! I'll try and upload them in the next two weeks! I also have news for those of you who read Lifelines: I'll probably upload the next chapter sometime this week.**


	28. Time Is Running Out

**A/N:** If you didn't like the last cliffhanger, then you'll absolutely hate the ending of the chapter after this one. Having said that, I'll go hide somewhere now. ;-)

Thanks for the reviews, guys! I loved them. No time for replying to them today, I'm afraid.

A very special thank you to KayMarieXW for beta-ing!

Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **The Twilight Saga is property of Stephenie Meyer. I'm only borrowing.

**Twenty-eighth Chapter…**

**…where time is running out**

It took twenty minutes alone to disassemble the equipment on the sub-level and transport it to the first floor. The building was surrounded by police, but Alice and Emmett had put it in lockdown so the police held their distance. They weren't equipped to deal with this kind of thing and had called in for backup, which would take at least another half hour to arrive.

Time, or rather the lack thereof, suddenly wasn't an issue anymore.

Alice and Emmett, having accomplished their task, began setting fires in the sub-levels. They'd broken the steel plating in as many places as possible and the fire was spreading. Slowly, but it was. When the two of them returned to Edward and Jasper they reeked of smoke. "We'll do the levels above once you're done," Emmett said. "We were concerned the ceiling would come crashing down while we're still inside."

"I'll do it once you're outside," Edward said. "You did make sure I'm not going to be cut off from the airlock, didn't you?"

Alice merely looked at him.

"Sorry," Edward said immediately. "Guess I'm a bit nervous, after all. And," he added, somewhat irritated, "your avoiding thinking about Bella at all costs doesn't help. I'd rather you told me what is going on before I do this."

Jasper looked up, his hands full of cables in all colours, Emmett's phone wedged in between ear and shoulder. This was the first he'd heard of something being wrong with Bella. Of course, Alice probably had her reasons if she hadn't mentioned anything and, like Emmett, he had a pretty good guess what these reasons were.

"Give me the phone," Rosalie said from the other end of the line, with a sigh. "Look, the situation's under control and Carlisle will be here in about an hour and a half," she told him, which convinced Edward that something had gone wrong. "I'm having Bella transferred to a private hospital he mentioned to me and he'll try to remove the bone fragment."

"What do you mean by he'll 'try'?" Edward asked sharply.

"Well…" Rosalie paused. It was so unhandy not being able to read her mind over the phone. "Alright, I'm not going to sugar-coat it. Just remember that right now everything is fine and that if Carlisle doesn't make it here in time, I'll do it myself."

"Rosalie," Edward growled, "start at the beginning, please."

Rosalie gave a brief account of what had happened during which Edward's pale face blanched to an unhealthy shade of white, even for a vampire. Alice was surprised at how well he took the news, though. She'd half expected him to pitch a fit, but maybe he'd suspected something like this, given how hard she'd tried to think of anything but Bella. And maybe he'd caught a glimpse of her vision despite her best efforts to bury it inside her mind the second it had come to her.

"You'll try to change her?" Edward suddenly asked, his voice very tight.

Emmett and Jasper looked at each other, surprised, and then at Alice, who wasn't. Edward had moved down the corridor, so they hadn't heard Rosalie's part of the conversation.

"No, no, of course I want you to," Edward said now, but he sounded unsure. "It's just…" The date of Bella's change had still been so very far away. That it was suddenly here meant that he'd have to make up his mind and he realised that, despite their agreement, he'd still hoped she'd change her mind. "If that's what she wants," he said eventually. "But she should know what's happening here." Another pause. "Thank you, Rosalie. You have no idea how much I appreciate what you're doing. I'll be forever in your debt."

"Did I hear you right?" Emmett asked incredulously when Edward had hung up. "Rose will change her? What happened?"

"That bone fragment got in her bloodstream and her heart stopped beating. They're trying to find it now and are still assessing the damage it's caused. They'll operate as soon as possible, although Rose hopes that Carlisle will have arrived by that point and do it himself." He ran his hand over his forehead. "This was not how it was supposed to happen."

"Really," Emmett said, unknowingly echoing what Carlisle had said to Esme a thousand miles away, "when does anything in life ever happen the way it was supposed to?"

**A/N: Review? Pretty, pretty please?**


	29. The Inferno Starts

**A/N: Thank you so much for the amazing reviews you guys wrote! Only three more chapters to go. I intend to have them uploaded by Sunday!**

**A special thank you to KayMarieXW for beta-ing!**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: The Twilight Saga is property of Stephenie Meyer. I'm only borrowing.**

**Twenty-ninth Chapter…**

**…where the inferno starts**

The building was ablaze.

Alice, Emmett and Jasper were already outside and a safe distance from the building and Edward had just returned from having set fire on the upper floors. The air was filled with thick, black smoke, which made it difficult to see. He could feel the heat of the fire consuming the complex and while his instincts were screaming at him to get out of here as fast as possible, he couldn't. Not yet. He had to make sure the fire would devour everything. He stayed just outside the airlock, waiting, his thoughts on Bella. He hoped she was doing well, because while he was grateful that Rosalie had promised him to try and save her—which meant a lot to Edward, given how opposed she'd always been to Bella being changed—he didn't have a lot of faith in her control. He knew he was being ungrateful, but he couldn't help it. It was the way he felt and he couldn't chase the fear that had settled in his heart away. He didn't want to lose Bella. He couldn't imagine a life without her and contrary to what he'd said to the others, he didn't want her to have a life without him. He knew what it would do to him if she died. The same it would do to her if _he_ died, which was why he wouldn't. Not if he could help it.

_I hope Carlisle arrives in time_, he thought, no, prayed. _Please let him arrive in time._ He was still an hour out, according to Alice's last estimate. They were still close enough for him to read their minds. They were worried and scared, didn't want to lose him.

Flames were now dancing at the far end of the corridor. There was very little for them to consume even though Alice and Emmett had liberally poured everything that would act as an accelerant over the floor and the walls. Just a few more minutes and then he'd get out of here. Just a few more minutes.

Edward didn't remember much of the last days of his human life, but he'd been having flashbacks. It was 1918 again and he was in Chicago and his father had just died. Then, he'd still hoped he and his mother would survive, but a few days later she had fallen ill as well and Edward himself had shortly thereafter. He remembered the feeling of suffocating when his lungs had filled with fluid that couldn't be drained, not back then. The pain in his arms and legs, and in his head, that had almost been as bad as the fire of the change. He remembered that now, although he had never before. He didn't want anyone to die that way. _That_ was why he'd offered to stay. He didn't know why he hadn't just said so. Perhaps because he'd been afraid the others wouldn't understand. Edward didn't think of humans as inferior to vampires, didn't think of them as prey. He knew that another vampire would have let them die. _Or maybe not_, he thought grimly. _No humans means nothing to drink_. Still, that wasn't why he did it. He wanted to save the lives that couldn't be saved back then, irrational as it sounded.

The fire crept closer, faster than Edward had thought it would. He heard flames crackling overhead and the heat was so intense that the air blurred, became distorted, began to glimmer before Edward's eyes. He stepped into the airlock and sealed it, activating the decontamination process. He deliberately inhaled the air that was released. It wouldn't have been particularly healthy for a human—not dangerous and better than dying of a virus, just not very healthy—but to him it made no difference. The process took over four minutes until it was complete. Edward was counting down the minutes, second by second. Two minutes to go. One minute and forty-five seconds. One minute and thirty-seconds. One minute and fifteen seconds. One minute…

The ceiling came crashing down at forty-five seconds left, engulfing Edward in orange flames.

**Do I have to hide now? Please review!**


	30. Everything Spins Out Of Control

**A/N: *peeks our of her hiding place, sees the pitch forks and quickly takes cover again* I take it you didn't like the cliffhanger at the ending of chapter twenty-nine? Still, I'm going to leave to hanging just a little bit longer. Hopefully, you'll never figure out where I am hiding.**

**Thanks for reviewing. A special thank you to my beta KayMarieXW!**

**Enjoy! **

**Disclaimer: The Twilight Saga is property of Stephenie Meyer. I'm only borrowing.**

**Thirtieth Chapter…**

**…where everything spins out of control**

Carlisle still hadn't arrived, yet Bella was being wheeled into an OR this very second. "We'll run as fast as we can," he'd promised Rosalie on the phone, but it wasn't going to be enough. The bone fragment remained elusive. Bella had gone into cardiac arrest once more and this time the fragment seemed to have punctured a major artery. She was bleeding internally—Rosalie heard the blood rush where it wasn't supposed to—and the damaged had to be repaired, and quickly.

This time she didn't try to go into the OR with Bella, as that wouldn't have been a particularly good idea. She had snuck into the viewing room situated just above the OR, watching anxiously as Bella was put under and then cut open. _Please_, she prayed, though to whom she didn't know as Rosalie didn't believe in God. _Please don't let anything happen to her!_

It seemed to be going well. The atmosphere in the OR was relaxed, rock music playing softly in the background. The surgeon knew what he was doing. The damaged artery was located within minutes and sutured properly within another ten. He'd just closed Bella back up when the one thing that Rosalie had dreaded happened again.

Her heart stopped. But this time it was different. There was an air of finality about it as it beat its last beat and then just fell silent, as if intending to never beat again. The doctor yelled at the nurse, who yelled at one of her assistants. Chaos ensued.

Rosalie had already left the viewing room, running down the stairs and pushing open the doors to the OR just as the doctor wanted to call it. The door crashed into the walls on either side with enough force to cause the cheap wood to splinter. Everyone turned around at once, the doctor opening his mouth beneath his mouth. Rosalie would never know what he'd intended to say.

"Out!" she snarled as she hovered in the doorway, praying she wasn't too late. "Everyone of you. Leave!" When they didn't move, she pounced, aiming for the person standing closest to her. The woman screamed as Rosalie snarled at her, teeth bared. She began to step back, tripping over her own feet in her haste to get away, but Rosalie had already launched herself at the anaesthetist. The man paled, moving back from where he still stood at Bella's head and then whipping around and running for his life.

Rosalie snarled. She wasn't thinking about damage control at the moment, she was utterly focused on saving Bella, if that was still possible. Ten seconds had passed since she entered the OR. The surgeon was staring at her open-mouthed. "Out!" Rosalie ordered again and this time he complied, grabbing the resident physician, who'd been only watching, by the shoulder and yanking him out of the room. The others followed, frightened. They had seen Rosalie move, knew there was something wrong and didn't want to stay in the same room with her any longer than absolutely necessary.

Once they were gone, Rosalie spun around. Bella was pale underneath the bright yellow lights, still and unmoving. She already looked like a corpse, but Rosalie hoped it wasn't too late just yet. She wouldn't have done it that way under different circumstances. Of course, under different circumstances she wouldn't be doing this at all. She'd already thought about how to go about changing Bella. Bite her wrists, but not her neck where the flow of blood was strongest, the most tempting. That would have been enough, but her heart had stopped. And for the transformation to work it was imperative that her heart continued to beat.

So Rosalie yanked the cables still attached to Bella's chest out of the way and buried her teeth in her neck. She didn't know how she managed to pull away. Her blood was so delicious. Perhaps it wouldn't have been so bad if Rosalie had ever tasted human blood, but she hadn't and the smell fogged her mind for a second. Then she snapped out of it and moved away, knowing she'd have to bite her again to make sure it took. Both her wrists. The inside of her elbows and knees. Both her thighs. The other side of her neck.

And then she started doing CPR. She didn't know if it would work. She had to get the venom moving through Bella's system and it shouldn't make a difference if it was done manually or by Bella's own heartbeat, but she wasn't sure. She just knew she had to try and so she did, keeping Bella's heart going for her until she felt the tiniest fluttering underneath her hands. Then again. And again. And again. It sounded sluggish, too slow, but it beat and that was all it mattered.

The tension suddenly drained from Rosalie's body. She realised that she'd done it, that she hadn't lost control, that Bella would be fine. She buried her face in her hands, trying to hold in the sobs that were rising in her throat and failing. Someone suddenly closed her arms around her and Esme's scent swirled around her, comforting as it had always been. She wrapped her arms around her mother, sobbing in earnest now, unable to stop.

"It'll be okay, it'll be okay," Esme whispered over and over again as she rubbed her hands over Rosalie's back to comfort her. "I'm so proud of you, Rosie." She never called her that because she knew how much her daughter hated the endearment, but this time Rosalie simply wrapped her arms tighter around Esme, pulling her closer still.

**Review, please? Or do you hate me now? ;-)**


	31. The Battle Seems Lost

**A/N: Only two more chapters! Hopefully, I'll no longer have to hide after this one! Thanks for the reviews; I loved them! A special thank you to my beta KayMarieXW!**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: The Twilight Saga is property of Stephenie Meyer. I'm only borrowing.**

**Thirty-first Chapter…**

**…where the battle seems lost**

Alice screamed as two visions almost simultaneously crashed into her mind.

"What happened?" Jasper demanded. He usually waited until Alice was ready to talk about it, but not this time, not this time. Alice's vision had come true after all. They were standing a little distance away on the rooftop, watching as the firemen tried to get the flames devouring the complex under control and evacuated the apartment buildings in the vicinity. Where was Emmett?

"Bella," Alice gasped. "She died and Rosalie bit her. The vision of Bella as a vampire is still bright and clear, so I'm inclined to think she'll pull through. Carlisle and Esme have arrived and are taking them away. I don't think we'll be able to go home after what Rosalie did in the OR, but that's still undecided."

"What about Edward?" Jasper urged.

Alice shook her head, her eyes wide with fear. "I just don't know. The building started collapsing when he was still in the airlock and I saw him being buried by burning debris. There's nothing!" She choked out that last sentence. "I don't see him, I don't see him," she whispered over and over again while Jasper held her tightly against his chest as she wept, her body rocking violently.

Emmett stared at the flames, unable and unwilling to believe that his brother was gone. He was still alive, had to be. Emmett didn't want to imagine what life would be without him. Those months where he'd been absent after they'd left Forks had been horrible. They needed Edward. _Bella_ needed Edward.

Emmett's cell phone started ringing. Checking the caller ID, he saw that it was Rosalie and picked up immediately. He sounded drained as he asked her how Bella was doing, drained and exhausted.

"We're at the private hospital Carlisle mentioned to me," Rosalie replied, sounding just as weary. "They didn't ask questions and Bella isn't even moving, let alone screaming so we don't have to worry about that. Carlisle thinks it is because her body was so pumped full of anaesthetics. If her heart wasn't beating, I'd swear she was dead."

"You did a good job," Emmett said softly. "I'm proud of you, babe. Really proud."

There was silence for a moment before Rosalie asked, "How's the situation on your end? Did it work?"

"To some extent," Emmett admitted. "Edward was still inside when the building started coming down. We haven't heard from him and Alice has been unable to see them. I hope he made it out in one piece."

"I hope so," Rosalie whispered. "Call as soon as you know more, will you? Esme and I need to go back to the hospital, do some damage control. We'd better hurry. I love you, Emmett."

"I love you, too," Emmett replied before she hung up.

The minutes passed. The fire had leapt to the apartment building next to the complex, was licking hungrily over the red bricks. Fortunately, it had been evacuated almost ten minutes ago. People started shouting as they saw the flames. _You should be grateful_, Emmett thought angrily. _You only lost your home. You didn't lose a brother!_

Because, as the minutes passed, it became increasingly unlikely that Edward had made it out alive. He would have been here already if he had.

Suddenly Alice straightened out of Jasper's embrace, blinking. "What is it, love?" Jasper asked, concerned, then turned around as Alice did, following her eyes that were focused on something a hundred metres away. Hearing him gasp, Emmett spun around as well. Laughter bubbled up in his chest and he didn't even try to resist the urge to jump into the air, his hand raised in a victorious gesture.

For in the trees of the little park, hidden from curious human eyes, stood Edward, dripping wet, with half of his hair singed off, but otherwise unharmed.

**Do I still have to hide?**


	32. A Happy Ending

**A/N: And here it is, the final chapter. I never thought I'd get to write "The End" under a fan fiction any time soon, especially since my monster project Lifelines is still a long way from completion. At the risk of sounding arrogant, I'm quite proud of this fan fiction and not just because I actually finished it. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I loved writing it. Thank you all so much for your continuing support; I loved reading your reviews!**

**Of course, I never intended to kill off any of the characters. ;-)**

**A very, very special thank you to KayMarieXW, who offered to beta this fan fiction for me. I really wouldn't know what to do without you.**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: The Twilight Saga is property of Stephenie Meyer. I'm only borrowing. **

**Thirty-second Chapter…**

**…where there's a happy ending**

"What happened to your hair?"

That was the first thing that Bella said upon opening her eyes, although there were so many more things that were new to her, unfamiliar. The brightness of the light, the depth of the colours, the fullness of the sounds. Yet Edward's hair, which was much, much shorter now than it was in her foggy memories, was the one thing that captured her attention.

Edward grinned, relieved. Alice and Emmett laughed, Alice's laughter the soft sound of a tinkling bell, Emmett's the one of a braying mule. Esme and Carlisle smiled at each other. Rosalie huffed, clearly amused.

"Alice had to cut it," Edward said. "I'm afraid it got singed off. Do you like it?"

"I liked it better the way it was before," Bella admitted, frowning. "But I guess I'll get used to it." She smiled and reached out for Edward's hand that lay on the blanket beside her. She'd figured out what was happening to her the second the burning started. It had been agony, pure hell, yet somehow she'd survived that furnace and now… now the world was different. She hadn't thought about those differences before, but now it was so much, too much almost, very overwhelming. So she focused on Edward for now, on his smile, the planes and angles of his face that looked even more beautiful to her now than it had before. It was perfect.

"How do I look?" she asked. It occurred to her, just as the question had left her lips, that it made her sound shallow, vain. The others didn't seem to think that, though, because a grin spread on Alice's face and she handed Bella a small mirror that had been lying on the table beside her.

Bella held her breath as she took it. The woman looking back at her didn't look like her at all. Her features were perfect, as was her skin. Perfectly shaped brows sat over crimson eyes. Dark brown hair, its colour so rich it seemed to shine in the white light of the lamps overhead, framed her pale face. It took Bella a while to find herself in the image in the mirror, but in the end she did. She was still there, still Bella. "Nice," she breathed, which caused everyone to laugh.

"That's an understatement, little sister," Emmett said with a grin.

"He's right," Edward agreed and pulled her out of the bed and into his arms.

He knew how lucky he was to be alive, that part of his hair was the only thing he'd lost two days ago. He'd been surrounded by flames when the ceiling had caved in, his way of escape blocked. He'd never been more afraid. The fire was everywhere, the flames dancing like crimson demons straight from hell. For a moment he'd been paralysed, rooted to the spot as the fire advanced on him. Then he'd started moving, knowing his chances to make it out unharmed were slim, but to stay would have meant certain death and he had to try because he'd seen Bella in Alice's head. Bella as a vampire, strong and beautiful. He couldn't leave her. He had to try.

What did he have to lose?

He'd jumped. The flames had reached for his clothes and had dug their teeth into the fabric. Then he'd been outside in the cool air, a human-shaped torch, and he'd completely relied on his senses to save him and they had. They'd led him to a pond in the nearby park, where he'd completely submerged himself, stayed at the bottom of the pond for what seemed an eternity although the fire had been extinguished within seconds. He'd never come this close to dying (Italy didn't count) and he'd run his hands over every part of his body to make certain everything was still there where it belonged. He couldn't have cared less about the hair he'd lost.

Alice hadn't quite agreed with that, but she was still glad that he had survived and hadn't fussed. Much.

The last two days had been busy. Esme and Rosalie had erased the security camera footage of the hospital. In fact, they'd destroyed the entire security system, just to be certain, and Alice was confident that nobody would believe the account of a hysterical doctor. They'd contacted their cousins up in Alaska to prepare the Cullen's house there for their arrival because they couldn't take Bella back to Forks. The treaty had been broken. Esme and Carlisle would go and arrange for their possessions to be moved. They'd called Charlie to let him know that Alice, Rosalie and Bella would be staying for a few more days to get him off their backs. It wasn't fair to deceive him like that, but that couldn't be helped and Edward hoped Bella would agree that she couldn't see him again when he'd break the news to her in a little while.

What had been supposed to be a three-day-trip had changed everything, had thrown over all of Edward's plans, but part of him was glad that the waiting was over now, that Bella would now be his forever. The decision to change her, although it had never really been his to make anyway, had been taken away from him and he'd realised that it was good that way. He was so proud of Rosalie, and grateful that she'd done the one thing she'd hoped to avert. Rosalie had brushed off his thanks, which was very unlike her, but the stress of the last few days seemed to have got to her as well. Edward would never forget what she'd done for him, though, and he hoped that she knew that.

"You know," Carlisle said after a moment, smiling fondly at Bella and Edward, "I'm glad it turned out this way."

"So am I," Jasper said. In his case, though, he was just grateful that he finally could be in the same room with Bella without having to fight the urge to kill her.

"Yes, but you weren't going to have to talk to her about sex," Carlisle replied absently, momentarily forgetting that he had an audience. "I said that out loud, didn't I?" he asked when he realised their excited chatter had subsided.

"Yes, you did," Bella said, her eyes wide. Carlisle was certain that if she still could have blushed, she would have. "You wanted to talk to me about sex? I do know how it works, you know. In theory, anyway."

"That's not what I was going to talk to you about," Carlisle replied rather indignantly. "Besides, it doesn't matter anymore. I'll be outside if you need me." His family's laughter followed him as he stepped into the hallway. Esme took his hand, quietly closing the door to Bella's hospital room behind her.

"I'm happy," she whispered, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him. "I do feel a little disappointed for Alice that she won't get her decadent wedding… What?" she asked when she saw Carlisle's expression. "You didn't think that Bella wanted such an affair?"

"No, I didn't think that. I do think, however, that Alice isn't easily deterred. She'll get her way. She always does. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, as we've seen."

"No, it's not," Esme agreed after a moment. "Where do you think we'll go from here?" she asked then.

Carlisle shrugged. "We'll make it up as we go. We always have. Right now I'm just happy for Bella and Edward that they got their happy ending."

"Yes," Esme said, smiling. "So am I. So am I."

**The End**


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